new Delhi: Surviving nun in Kerala nun rape case has moved the Kerala High Court against the acquittal of accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal by a trial court.
Even as the nuns moved the High Court to acquit the accused, the state government on Wednesday allowed filing of an appeal against the lower court’s January 14, 2022 verdict. A senior public prosecutor also confirmed the sanction given by the state government for the prosecution to file an appeal.
The counsel also confirmed that the rape victim has appealed to the High Court against the lower court’s decision.
Notably, on January 14, Kottayam Additional District Court Judge G. Gopakumar had given a clean chit to Franco Mulakkal, saying that the prosecution had failed to produce evidence against the accused. Later, special prosecutor of the case Jitesh Babu said that the acquittal would be challenged.
The deadline for filing an appeal is 90 days from the date of the decision of the lower court.
Fifty-seven-year-old Mulakkal was accused of raping the nun several times between 2014 and 2016 during her visit to a convent in this district. He was then the Bishop of the Jalandhar Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church.
The survivor is a member of the Missionaries of Jesus, a diocesan congregation under the Diocese of Jalandhar.
In her police complaint filed in June 2018, the nun had alleged that she was sexually abused by Franco Mulakkal between 2014 and 2016.
Following her complaint, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case arrested Bishop in September 2018 and charged him with wrongful confinement, rape, unnatural sex and criminal intimidation.
The hearing of the case, which began in November 2019, ended on January 10.
The court had restrained the print and electronic media from publishing any matter related to the trial in this case without its permission.
The trial in the case lasted for 105 days and 39 witnesses were examined and 122 documents were produced before the court.