Bishop Franco Mulakkal files discharge plea in nun rape case

Bishop Fraco Mulakkal, former head of Jalandhar diocese of Roman Catholic Church, on Saturday filed a discharge petition before a lower court in connection with the case of alleged rape of a nun. In his plea filed before the Additional District and Sessions Court I, Mulakkal claimed that prima facie there was no case to frame charges against him.

The trial court adjourned the matter to February 4 for the prosecution to file its objection to the plea filed by the Bishop, accused of raping and sexually assaulting a nun of the same diocese. The Bishop filed the discharge plea as the Court was supposed to commence the preliminary hearing on charges on Saturday.

However, he was not present in the Court. The case is based on a complaint filed against the bishop by the nun. In her complaint to the police in June, 2018, the nun had alleged that she was subjected to sexual abuse by the Bishop during the period of 2014 and 2016. The Bishop, who was arrested by the Special Investigation Team probed the case, has charged him with wrongful confinement, rape, unnatural sex and criminal intimidation in the case.