The Kottayam Additional District Court in its verdict on Friday in the rape case against bishop Franco Mulakkal acquitted the priest in a complaint filed by a nun.
The complaint by the nun in 2018 had send shockwaves across the state, and nuns even came out in support, and sat in protest demanding the arrest of Bishop Franco Mulakkal .
The nun had filed a complaint before the Kottayam SP in June, 2018 that she was raped 13 times by Mulakkal between 2014 and 2016. The accused Bishop was arrested on September 21, after five nuns came out to publicly protest and demand for his arrest in Ernakulam. The nuns had received huge support in their protest.
Franco Mulakkal has been charged under 7 IPC sections including rape, and is currently out on bail. The prosecution had examined 39 witnesses in the case.
Prosecution also said that in the period before she filed the police complaint, the victim had given several internal complaints but did not get any respite. Prosecution alleges that when she complained there was retaliatory action against her.
The accused had even approached the supreme court to quash the FIR in this case but the petition was dismissed.
The charge sheet against Mulakkal names 83 witnesses, including the Cardinal of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Mar George Alencherry, three bishops, 11 priests and 22 nuns.
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