NUN ACCUSES BISHOP OF RAPING HER MANY TIMES

NEW DELHI, India – A nun with Missionaries of Jesus religious congregation has accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar of raping her on many occasions in 2014. The Missionaries of Jesus religious congregation is based in Jalandhar but has a convent in the Diocese of Palai, in Kerala State.

Bishop Mulakka(54) who heads a Roman Catholic diocese in Punjab and oversees the Missionaries of Jesus religious congregation has denied the accusations, claiming that the nun was blackmailing him to avoid disciplinary action.

The authorities have launched investigation into the accusations.

The nun has said the rape took place during the bishop’s May 2014 visit to the convent in Kerala. In a 72-page complaint to police, filed June 29, she alleged that the bishop sexually abused her over a dozen times over two years.

The Bishop claimed the allegations were made in retaliation against him because he has acted against the nun’s sexual misconduct, the bishop told UCA News. He said the nun was alleged to be having an affair with the husband of her cousin.

“She threatened to quit the order,” the bishop said, claiming that the nun sought a dispensation so that she could marry. She “withdrew the application and continued to threaten me with sex allegations,” the bishop said, in a UCA News report published July 2.

“It is all planned and timed to blackmail the bishop from taking punitive action against her,” the priest said.

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