Thiruvananthapuram : Representatives of ‘Save Our Sisters Action Council’ on Monday met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and sought protection for the nun who was allegedly raped by Jalandhar bishop Franco Mulakkan, and those who supported her.
The SOS representatives met the Chief Minister and informed him that the victim and the other nuns who supported her feared for their lives and sought protection for them. The took the step amid reports of the death of Fr Kuriakose Kattuthara. who was a witness in the case, in jalandhar on Monday.
Fr Augustine Vattoly, convener of the action council, said they also wanted the probe to be conducted in a time-bound manner, a special court to be set up for trial proceedings and special prosecutor appointed.
The members met Speaker P Sreeramakrishanan and wanted P.C. George, MLA, who had made several allegations against the victim, to be removed from the ethics committee and debarred.
In her complaint to the Kottayam Police in June, the rape victim alleged that Mulakkal raped her at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014 and later sexually exploited her on several occasions. However, Mulakkal denied the charges as “baseless and concocted,” insistingshe levelled those as the Catholic order had rejected her demand for favours.
Meanwhile, bishop Mulakkal and bishop Agnelo Gracias, the apostolic administrator of Jalandhar diocese, expressed sadness over the demise of Fr Kattuthara.
A church statement said he was found unconscious in his room and sisters at the St Paul’s Convent staying on the same campus were informed by their driver that he did not get around 9 am. He said the cook at the house told him that he did not have dinner last night and did not get up for breakfast.
He had served in the diocese in various capacities as a parish priest, professor, director and chaplain to convents. He was instrumental in preparing the Punjabi missal for the local church.
