Kerala Police on Tuesday filed its chargesheet against Bishop Franco Mulakkal who is accused of raping a nun multiple times, reports said.
According to the New York Times, Mulakkal has been charged with raping a nun nine times over a two-year period beginning in 2014.
The chargesheet, which has more than 100 pages, was submitted before the Pala Sessions Court in Kottayam, Kerala, The NewsMinute reported.
The chargesheet includes statements from 84 witnesses, including the Archbishop George Alencherry, 11 priests and 24 nuns, TNM reported.
Mulakkal has been charged under section 342 (wrongful confinement), 376 (2) (K) (being in a position of control over a woman and committing rape), 376 (C) (I) (sexual intercourse by a person in authority] and 377/506 (1) (carnal intercourse against the order of nature with the victim without consent and criminally intimidated the victim by extending threats) of the Indian Penal Code.
Save Our Sisters, a forum that held protests against the bishop, said the filing of charges entered “the annals of history as a rarest of rare incident, when a bishop is going to face trial in a court based on the complaint of a nun who is a subordinate to him,” the New York Times reported.
“After months of struggle, we are very happy that this is finally happening. This is proof that God is with us and truth will prevail,” Sister Anupama, one of the protesting nuns, told News18 after the chargesheet was filed.