Rape case against Bishop Mulakkal: Victim thanks Kerala govt for appointing special prosecutor
Kottayam (Kerala) (PTI): The victim-nun in the rape case against former Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal on Saturday thanked the Kerala government and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for appointing a special public prosecutor to handle legal proceedings in the Kerala High Court.
On Friday, the chief minister’s office said advocate B G Harindranath had been appointed as special public prosecutor and that a notification in this regard would be issued soon.
Speaking to reporters at Kuravilangad here, the victim-nun said she came to know about the appointment through news reports.
“I express my gratitude to the government, the chief minister, the media and media persons. Several people in society also came out in support of us through a signature collection drive to speed up our request, and I thank them all,” she said.
She said a request had been made from their side to appoint Harindranath as the special public prosecutor.
The victim-nun also thanked the state government for issuing ration cards to her and the nuns who supported her cause.
She recently revealed that a request had been submitted to the government and that she later met the chief minister seeking the appointment of a special prosecutor.
Following the revelation, Law Minister P Rajeev said provisions for appointing a special prosecutor for a case pending before the Kerala High Court would be examined.
Mulakkal, who was acquitted by a trial court in 2022 in the nun rape case, later resigned as the Jalandhar Bishop.
The victim has challenged the trial court’s verdict before the Kerala High Court.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
