Kerala HC rejected bail plea of Bishop Franco Mulakkal in nun rape case

Thiruvananthapuram, October 3: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of former Bishop Franco Mulakkal in the nun rape case. The Kerala Police had said that since more complaints were being submitted, giving the accused bail would hamper the investigation.

 

On 24 September, the Pala Judicial Magistrate Court in Kottayam had remanded Mulakkal to judicial custody till 6 October. He has been lodged in the Pala sub-jail for the past 10 days. Franco Mulakkal, who has been accused of raping a nun multiple times between 2014 and 2016, was produced in a magistrate court in Pala on 22 September and has been sent to police custody till 24 September. His lawyer had filed for a bail application, which was dismissed by the magistrate court.

On 22 September, the police submitted a remand report to the court saying that Mulakkal had gone to the convent with the intention of sexually assaulting the nun and in May 2014, he illegally confined her in Room 20 of the guest house and "subjected her to unnatural sexual assault".

The police also said that the accused threatened the nun with dire consequences if she ever revealed the incident. "Between 2014-2016, the victim was subjected to rape and unnatural sex 13 times in the same room," the remand report stated.

Franco Mulakkal, who headed the Roman Catholic Diocese in Jalandhar, Punjab, was arrested on 21 September in Tripunithura after three days of questioning in the case.