Thiruvanthapuram, Feb 21: Rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal has been accused of sexual abuse by another nun. Police sources say that there is at least one more nun who has given a statement of sexual assault against the bishop.
This nun is a witness in the rape case registered against Franco Mulakkal. She is the 14th witness in the case and in her statement, she said that the bishop made sexually-colored and lewd remarks to her over the phone.
As per the nun, they were in communication via phone calls, chat and video calls for a period of two years from 2015 to 2017.
In the statement, the nun said that she kept quiet as she was scared of the bishop.
In her witness statement in September 2018, she said that in 2017, the bishop visited the convent she was in and hugged and kissed her.
Police say that the witness was not ready to file a complaint against the bishop. They had alerted the police in the jurisdiction and when the team met her, she refused to file a complaint. Hence a separate case wasn't registered against Bishop Franco
The first nun of Missionaries of Jesus had accused Franco of raping her multiple times at the Kuruvilangadu convent in Kottayam. The FIR in the case was registered in June 2018.
Then after protests, Franco was arrested on September 21, 2018.
The chargesheet in the case was submitted in April 2019. In the chargesheet, Bishop Franco Mullackal has been charged under various sections of the IPC: 342 (wrongful confinement), 376 (2k) (rape on a woman incapable of giving consent), 376 (2n) (causing grievous bodily harm during rape), 376 (c) (a) 377 (unnatural offence) and 506 (1) (criminal intimidation).
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