On bended knee, Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal recited the prayers at the St Antony's church at Nagampadam in Kottayam district of Kerala on Saturday. He was flanked by his supporters in the church. Post the prayer session, the Bishop left to the Additional District and Sessions Court, where the pretrial proceeding in the rape case against him was scheduled to commence. He arrived at the court with an entourage of nearly 15 priests.
The court postponed the proceedings — the hearing of the pre-trial arguments that also includes framing of charges — to January 6, 2020. Franco is currently on bail. On Saturday, his bail has been extended till further the hearing on January 6.
The court called Franco around 10.45 am, and again, after an interval of 10 minutes. Following this, the court postponed the proceedings. The priests who accompanied him were waiting outside the courtroom until the Bishop came out by 11.30 am, along with Advocate PP Joseph, who is part of Franco's counsel team.
Franco was accused of raping a nun of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation in Kerala multiple times between 2014 and 2016. In June 2018, the survivor nun files a complaint against the Bishop, who wields considerable clout in the religious institutions in India.
Although an FIR was registered, the Kerala police delayed his arrest. It took a group of five fellow nuns of the survivor, who protested for almost 13 days in September 2018, to make sure Franco was arrested.
After a three-day interrogation, Franco was finally arrested on September 28, 2018, but was out on conditional bail a week later. The Kerala police further delayed in filing the chargesheet. During the period, the survivor and other nuns who went against Franco were subjected to numerous instances of isolation, threats of transfer orders, ostracisation by the congregation, humiliation and slandering by fellow priests and nuns.
It was only on April 9 that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case filed the chargesheet, which was submitted in the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Pala. Considering the gravity and nature of the case, the matter was shifted to the Principal Sessions Court in Kottayam and later to the Additional District Sessions court.