The Kerala High Court on Monday directed the State Government to inform it about the steps taken by the police in the sensational case pertaining to the alleged rape of a senior Catholic nun by Latin Catholic Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar Diocese just when the special team probing the case is reportedly set to summon the prelate for questioning.
Considering two PILs seeking orders for time-bound, court-monitored probe in the case and steps for the protection of the victim and the other nuns supporting her, a division bench of the High Court asked the Government to explain to it on Thursday the steps taken in the case in the past one month, since the police had confirmed rape of the nun by the Bishop in an affidavit. In the affidavit submitted in the court on August 13, the investigation officer, DySP K Subhash of Vaikom, had said that his investigations till that time had confirmed that the Bishop had raped the nun, an inmate of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation's convent at Kuravilangad in Kottayam district, several times between May, 2014 and September, 2016.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy asked the Government on Monday what steps it had taken to ensure the protection of the rape victim and the witnesses - nuns supporting her - and whether it had taken any action over the complaint that there were threats to their lives. It also asked the Government whether it had any clear programme for protecting witnesses.
During the course of arguments over the PILs, the Chief Justice reminded that nobody is above the law but the law is above all. The court also made part of its interim order of Monday the submission of the DySP in his August 13 affidavit that the probe that far had established that the Bishop had raped the nun several times and subjected her to unnatural sex.
As per the complaint the victim had lodged with the police 76 days ago and her statements including the one before a Magistrate, Bishop Mulakkal (54) had raped her 13 times between May, 2014 and September, 2016 at a guest house attached to her convent, St Francis Mission Home, at Nadukunnu, Kuravilangad.
Meanwhile, support grew further for the struggle of the victim and the nuns supporting her on Monday with more prominent personalities from several fields, priests and nuns reaching the venue of a protest sit-in being held by the Joint Christian Council, a collective of outfits working for reform in the Church, at Kochi demanding the Bishop's arrest and justice for the nuns.
Five nuns from the Kuravilangad convent, who are supporting the victim in her battle against the Bishop, had taken part in the protest in Kochi on the first two days, Saturday and Sunday, but they could not be at the sit-in on Monday owing to the 12-hour shutdown observed State-wide in protest against fuel price hike.
The police team probing the nun rape case may issue summons on Thursday to Bishop Mulakkal instructing him to be in Kerala within seven days for questioning in the nun rape case. The police have reportedly taken the decision in the context of the pressure mounting on them from various quarters for his arrest.
The probe team had recorded the statement of the Bishop at his office in the Jalandhar Diocese headquarters on August 13. He had then chosen to reject all the charges leveled by the victim. The police's move to question the Bishop again and probably to arrest him after that has come in the context of mounting criticisms that top officials have been trying to shield him.
Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women issued a notice to Independent MLA PC George seeking his explanation over the extremely derogatory remarks he had made the other day against the rape victim and the nuns supporting her. George has been asked to give the explanation directly by appearing before the commission in Delhi on September 20.
In the notice issued to George, NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said that his remarks against the nun were extremely condemnable. Sources said the State police might book George in the name of his humiliating remarks against the nun. They said the police would seek the nun's opinion on the issue and George would be booked if she complained against him.