Bishop Franco Mulakkal faces fresh allegations of sexual assault; nun says police paid no heed to 2018 complaint

A fresh allegation of sexual assault has surfaced against bishop Franco Mulakkal who had to step down as the head of the Jalandhar diocese last year after he was accused of rape by a nun in 2018.

According to a report in Mathrubhoomi , a second nun from Kerala has accused the bishop of sexually assaulting her between 2015 and 2017. Reports said that the second nun is one of the witnesses in the 2018 rape case against Mulakkal in which he is accused of sexually assaulting a nun of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation in Kerala.

The report quoted the second nun as saying that Mulakkal “tried to grab hold of her at the convent and spoke to her in a sexually explicit manner through a video call.”

The second nun also stated that Mulakkal “forced her to display her body parts”, the report said.

Reports also said that the second nun had narrated her ordeal to the police in September 2018, however, no action was taken against the influential Christian cleric. Citing the police complaint,  reports said that the second accuser is a 35-year-old nun who belongs to the same congregation as the first nun to have accused Mulakkal of rape on multiple occasions between 2014 and 2016.

“I used to call him regarding issues related to the convent, and it turned into a friendship. Between 2015 and 2017, we used to send messages on WhatsApp, call each other and do video calls. I was only looking for friendship. But by the end of 2015, his remarks became sexual in nature,” a report in The NewsMinute quoted the second nun as saying in the statement to the police, which has been released now by the ‘Save our Sisters’ (SOS) forum.

“The nun then said that she was not interested in sexting, but did not have the courage to oppose Franco as he was the head of their congregation,” the report added.

Mulakkal is currently out on bail in the first rape case. In her complaint to the Kottayam Police in June last year, the first nun had alleged that Mulakkal raped her at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014 and later sexually exploited her on several occasions. The nun said she had to approach the police as church authorities did not act on her repeated complaints against the clergyman.

However, Mulakkal has denied the charges as “baseless and concocted,” insisting that she levelled them as the Catholic order had rejected her demand for favours. He had stepped aside as the bishop of the Jalandhar diocese following the allegations.

With inputs from PTI