Thiruvananthapuram: Former bishop Franco Mulakkal, who was accused of raping a nun several times between 2014 and 2016, was exculpated by Kottayam Additional Sessions Court on Friday. As the prosecution failed to provide adequate evidence, the sessions court acquitted Franco Mulakkal, who stands to be the first Catholic Bishop in India to be arrested for assaulting a nun.
The security at the Kottayam Additional Sessions Court was beefed up ahead of the pronouncement of the verdict in the high-profile case. Mulakkal who broke down during the hearing claimed that the case was fabricated. “Daivathinu sthuthi (Praise the Lord!)” Mulakkal told reporters, before leaving the court premises.
Mulakkal, who was divested of his administrative charges as a bishop of Jalandhar diocese of the Roman Catholic Church was arrested by the SIT constituted in September 2018. A year later after the trial had begun, the Kerala court had framed charges against the bishop including repeated rape, misuse of authority, punishment for wrongful confinement and use of criminal intimidation to outrage the modesty of a woman, among other sections of the Indian Penal Code.