JALANDHAR (INDIA)
Indian Express [Noida, India]
June 2, 2023
Franco Mulakkal has resigned as Bishop of Jalandhar at the behest of the Vatican. His arrest in 2018 on the complaint of a nun and acquittal last year by a trial court triggered debate and discussions.
Franco Mulakkal, the Catholic priest who was acquitted last year of charges of raping a nun, has resigned as Bishop of Jalandhar on Thursday (June 1).
Communication from the Apostolic Nunciature to India, which is the Vatican mission in the country, said the Holy See requested the resignation from Mulakkal not as a disciplinary measure imposed upon him, but as pro bono Ecclesiae, especially for the good of the diocese which needs a new bishop. There would not be any canonical restrictions on his ministry, said the release.
After the announcement from the Vatican, Mulakkal in a video thanked all those who stood with him during his troubled days. “The Pope on Thursday accepted my resignation letter, which I had written after consulting with my superiors. I submit to God all the troubles which I had suffered. Let my tears help for the reformation of the Church,’’ he said.
Mulakkal’s acquittal by a trial court in Kottayam, Kerala, is currently under challenge in the Kerala High Court. There have been no developments in the case since April 2022.
What were the charges against Franco Mulakkal?
In an FIR filed at the Kuravilangad police station in June 2018, a senior nun belonging to the order of the Missionaries of Jesus of the Catholic Church, accused Mulakkal, the Bishop of the Jalandhar diocese of the church, of raping her and subjecting her to unnatural sex 13 times between 2014 and 2016 at the mission convent in Kuravilangad in Kottayam.
In September 2018, a group of nuns close to the complainant launched a hunger-strike in front of the Kerala High Court premises in Kochi demanding the arrest of Mulakkal. The protest was successful — Mulakkal was brought to Kochi from Jalandhar, questioned for three days by the police, and eventually arrested. He was released on bail nearly a month later.
The Bishop denied the accusations, which he said were “fabricated” in retaliation for action he had taken against the complainant with regard to a complaint raised by a woman. Mulakkal moved the High Court and the Supreme Court with a plea to quash the charges against him, but the trial began in September 2020.
Mulakkal faced a slew of charges including illegal confinement, sexual harassment through abuse of power, unnatural sex, rape, and outraging the modesty of a woman.
Why was Mulakkal acquitted?
The verdict came at the end of a 105-day-long trial in a closed court, which saw a total of 83 witnesses on the list, out of which 39 gave testimonies in favour of the prosecution. The defence paraded nine witnesses. The witnesses included 4 Bishops, 11 priests, 25 nuns, seven magistrates who gave secret testimonies, and the doctor who conducted the medical test.
Mulakkal was acquitted after the court raised “reasonable” doubt regarding the complainant’s statements and actions. “When it’s not feasible to separate the truth from the falsehood, the only available course is to discard the evidence,” the court said while giving a verdict of not guilty.
The court also cited the church’s internal politics and the prosecution’s delay in filing the case in its judgment.
Why is this case significant?
This was the first time that a Catholic Bishop was arrested and booked on charges of rape and sexual harassment in India. The case came amid a global scandal in the Catholic church, which has included allegations of sexual abuse by priests in several countries around the world. In August 2018, Pope Francis expressed “shame and sorrow” over these incidents. Mulakkal was temporarily relieved from official duties at the Jalandhar diocese after being charged.
The trial court verdict spurred debate. “It appears that the trial court adopted a hyper-technical approach and applied a wholly unrealistic standard while discarding the testimony of the victim. The judgement also failed to appreciate the constraints under which a nun lives and the power dynamics involved in the case”, feminist legal scholar and womens’ rights activist Flavia Agnes wrote in The Indian Express.