India Tomorrow

KOZHIKODE, JULY 16—After cancelling the bail granted to rape-accused Catholic Bishop Franco Mulakkal, the Kottayam addition district and sessions court on July 14 issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him.

The arrest warrant was issued as the accused failed to appear before the court on July 13.

He was earlier asked to appear on July 1 but failed to do so saying that he was living in a Covid-19 containment zone and would not be able to travel.

The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for August 13.

The Bishop informed the court through his advocate that he would not be able to appear in court physically because he had come in contact with a person tested Covid-19 positive in Jalandhar in Punjab where he is currently living.

Stating that the bishop has failed to appear on more than 12 similar occasions in the court, the public prosecutor told the court that the accused was simply trying to delay the proceedings in the case.

The 56-year-old Bishop was granted bail in 2018. He was accused of raping a nun from the Missionaries of Jesus for as many as 13 times between 2014 and 2016 during his visits to a convent in Kottayam district in Kerala.

After the nun disclosed that Bishop had repeatedly subjected her to sexual assault, there was a huge protest in Kerala against the Bishop following which he was arrested. However, he managed to get bail after an imprisonment of 40 days.

This is the first case in India where a rape charge has been levelled against a Bishop.