'Save Our Sisters' Forum Urges Pope To Reconsider Reinstating Franco Mulakkal

'Save our Sisters' in a letter to Pope appealed not to reinstate nun rape case acquittal Franco Mulakkal as the Bishop of Jalandhar until the appeal against the judgment is decided by Kerala HC

Kottayam court acquitted Franco Mulakkal in nun rape case in January, 2022.

Source : PTI file

New Delhi: 'Save our Sisters' forum in a letter to Pope appealed not to reinstate nun rape case acquittal Franco Mulakkal as the Bishop of Jalandhar until the appeal against the judgment is heard and decided by Kerala High Court.

A Kottayam court in January acquitted Franco in a Nun rape case, which came to light in 2018. The survivor nun in the rape case moved the Kerala High Court to set aside Franco Mulakkal's acquittal by a trial court in Kottayam.

‘Save our Sisters’ forum writes to the Pope appealing to him to not reinstate Franco Mulakkal (in file pic) as the Bishop of Jalandhar (Punjab) until the appeal against the judgment is heard & decided by Kerala HC

Kottayam court had acquitted him in the nun rape case in Jan 2022 pic.twitter.com/WsydoLJMDA

— ANI (@ANI) June 15, 2022

The rape survivor moved the court in March as an appeal can be filed within 90 days from the date of the verdict given by the lower court. Mulakkal was acquitted on January 14, 2022.

The 57-year-old was accused of raping nun multiple times between 2014 and 2016. Mulakkal was the Bishop of the Jalandhar diocese of the Roman Catholic church at that time. The survivor is a member of the Missionaries of Jesus, a diocesan congregation under the Jalandhar Diocese.

The rape survivor nun in her complaint, lodged in June 2018, alleged that she was subjected to sexual abuse by the Mulakkal in between 2014 and 2016. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested the bishop in September 2018 and after spending 40 days in jail, he was granted bail. The trial in the case started in November 2019 and ended on January 10,