Kochi: An additional sessions court in Kottayam on Friday acquitted Bishop Franco Mulakkal in the nun rape case. Franco was the bishop of Jalandhar, and was accused of raping a nun, over a period of two years.
Speaking to the media after the verdict, Franco said, “Daivathinu sthuthi (Praise the Lord!)”. He broke down in court and embraced his lawyers after hearing the judgement.
Mulakkal was arrested in September, 2018 in connection with the rape case after a nun filed a complaint that Mulakkal had raped her 13 times at her Congregation’s mission house in Kottayam district between 2014 and 2016. He was the first Indian Catholic bishop to be arrested in a rape case.
“This is an extremely unfortunate verdict, it is shocking for us. We had expected a conviction fully. We will appeal. We had a lot of corroborative evidence. All the witnesses in the case were ordinary people,” investigating officer S Harisankar, former Kottayam SP, told reporters.
