Kochi: The Kerala Police team probing the case pertaining to the rape of a senior nun allegedly by Bishop Franco Mulakkal of the Jalandhar Diocese of the Latin Catholic Church questioned Cardinal Mar George Alencherry, head of the Kerala-based Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, on July 18 on the basis of the nun’s charge that he had refused to act on a complaint she had lodged with him against the Bishop.
In his statement to police, Cardinal Alencherry held fast to his earlier stand on the issue and said the nun had not given him any complaint on the alleged sexual abuse by the Bishop. He admitted that the nun had met him last year but she had spoken to him about some matters concerning her convent and not about sexual abuse.
The probe team headed by K Subhash, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP), Vaikom, Kottayam recorded the Cardinal’s statement at the headquarters of the Syro-Malabar Church at Kakkanad, Kochi on the basis of the nun’s statement to it and before a magistrate that she had lodged a complaint with him against the Bishop but he had failed to act on it.
However, Mar Alencherry told the investigators that the nun had spoken to him about problems within her convent and that he could do nothing about it as the matter was related not to his Syro-Malabar Church but to the Latin Catholic Church. He said he advised the nun to take up the matter with the superiors in that Church.
He told police that he did not reveal the content of the nun’s complaint to anyone as she herself had told him that the matter was of secret nature. Also, the question of contacting the police did not arise as no complaint had been given to him about sexual abuse, Mar Alencherry told the investigators.
A complaint is pending with the Kochi police seeking legal action against the Cardinal for failing to inform the authorities even after getting a complaint about sexual abuse.
The nun, who has repeatedly said that she had complained to the Cardinal about her sexual abuse, is said to have handed over a copy of that complaint to police.
In the complaint she lodged with the police last month, the nun, now 48, said Bishop Mulakkal had raped her using threats 13 times between 2014 and 2016 at a guest house adjoining her convent at Kuravilangad in Kottayam district.
She said the Bishop had raped her for the ×rst time on May 5, 2014, when he was in Kerala for a Church programme.She had repeated the charge against Bishop Mulakkal in the statement she recorded before a magistrate
under Section 164 of the CrPC.
However, the Bishop has denied the charge and he claims that the nun has been threatening to trap him in a sex scandal for taking disciplinary action against her on a complaint on her immoral behavior.
“We have recorded the Cardinal’s statement. The course of further action will be decided after consulting our superiors,” said DySP Subhash. The probe team is expected to leave for Jalandhar for questioning the Bishop after it concludes the enquiries in Kerala. Police sources said the investigators would be questioning some other nuns before leaving for the Punjab city