By Matters India Reporter
Kochi, Oct. 5, 2021: The Catholic Church in India witnessed a rare event when a cardinal appeared in a court as a witness in a case where a bishop is being tried for allegedly raping a nun.
Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, October 1 appeared in the Additional District and Sessions Court in Kottayam, a town in the southwestern Indian state of Kerala, as one of the 84 witnesses in the case.
Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar is accused of raping the former superior general of the Missionaries of Jesus 13 times during 2014 and 2016.
A reliable source close to the cardinal told Matters India that the 76-year-old prelate has supported the prosecution claim.
The source, however, refused to disclose the details of the cardinal’s testimony as it would violate a court order that restrains media from covering the court proceedings. Bishop Mulakkal had objected to media coverage of the trial.
Earlier, the cardinal drew flak from media and others for his alleged support to Bishop Mulakkal and inaction on the complaints from the alleged rape survivor and five other nuns who support her.
The survivor alleged that rape took place in the congregation’s Kuravilangad village near Kottayam where one their three convents in Kerala exists.
The congregation function under the Jalandhar diocese based in the northern Indian state of Punjab. Bishop Mulakkal was the congregation’s patron.
The survivor officially lodged a complaint against Bishop Mulakkal on June 27, 2018, a week after the prelate accused her and her brother of threatening him.
Bishop Mulakkal was arrested September 25, 2018, after the survivor’s supporting nun and civil rights activists staged sit-in at Kochi, Kerala’s commercial capital. A court sent the prelate to him jail, but the Kerala High Court granted him bail on October 15, 2018.
The trial was supposed to begin on Nov 11, 2019, but was adjourned several times as Bishop Mulakkal tried to get him discharged from the case. However, his plea was rejected by the trial court, the high court and the Supreme Court.
The trial finally began on September 16, 2020, and so far some 30 witness, including two bishops, have recorded their statements, according to the source.