A Catholic nun has appealed a court decision acquitting a bishop in a rape case in India’s southern state of Kerala in January.
On March 30, the nun, who claimed to have been the victim of rape, filed an appeal in the Kerala High Court.
Bishop Franco Mulakkal of the Diocese of Jalandhar had been accused of raping the nun multiple times over a period of two years.
The case sparked outrage and large protests.
The nun’s petition alleges defects in the trial court verdict as it could not study properly all evidences presented.
A day earlier, the Kerala government allowed the prosecution to file a separate appeal against the acquittal.
Bishop Mulakkal told Matters India that both the government and his accuser have filed appeals in the High Court against his acquittal.
“Yes. It is their right. We respect it,” the bishop said.
In her complaint to the police in June 2018, the nun alleged that she was subjected to sexual abuse by Bishop Mulakkal between 2014 and 2016.
The Special Investigation Team, which probed the case, arrested the bishop in September 2018 and charged him with wrongful confinement, rape, unnatural sex and criminal intimidation.
Bishop Mulakkal denied the charges and said he was a victim of vendetta. – from a report on Matters India
