A summons will be issued soon to the Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal on the Kerala Nun rape case said K Subhash, the investigating officer in the case. On his way to meet Ernakulam range Inspector General (IG) Vijay Sakhare and Kottayam Superintendent of Police (SP) Harishankar, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP), K Subhash, told the reporters that the summons will be issued at the earliest to the accused Bishop through email or through Jalandhar police. This is the first time that the Kerala police has spoken about the case to the media.
The meeting is being held at the residence of the IG in Kochi. The IG told media that more details on the investigation cannot be revealed. “We are going to submit an affidavit on the investigation in this case to the Kerala High Court tomorrow (Thursday). All the details will be available in that document. We cannot reveal any more details on the investigation,” he said.
Meanwhile, the protest by the nuns in front of the Kerala High Court entered its fifth day on Wednesday.
Jalandhar Bishop Franco has been accused of raping the 44-year-old nun multiple times between 2014 and 2016.
Earlier, following the inaction of police, 5 Catholic nuns sat in protest near the Kerala High Court demanding that Bishop Franco be arrested after the complaint of rape was lodged against him. The Missionaries of Jesus Congregation had previously came to the Bishop's defense and implied that the nun's statements were not entirely true.
On September 8, the nun wrote a 7 page letter to the Vatican ambassador, explaining how despite having reached out to several church officials, none had reached out to help her. Responding to the nun's allegations, the Missionaries of Jesus released a statement to the media on September 11, blatantly attacked the nun's character. They alleged that she had previously been involved with two other men and that her accusations against the bishop had been unwarranted in nature.