Bishop sent to Kerala jail, bail hearing on Thursday
Kottayam (Kerala), Sep 24: Bishop Franco Mulakkal, arrested on charges of raping a nun, was on Monday sentenced to two weeks judicial custody by a magisterial court while the Kerala High Court posted his bail plea for a Thursday hearing.
Judge M. Lekshmi of Pala Judicial Magisterial Court sent the bishop to the Pala sub-jail as the police did not seek his custody.
He was presented in the court after his two-day police custody ended on Monday.
Even as he was being produced before Judge Lekshmi, his counsel moved the Kerala High Court in Kochi seeking his bail.
When the High Court posted the matter for Thursday, the bishop was sent to the Pala sub-jail.
Mulakkal, who headed the Roman Catholic Diocese in Jalandhar, Punjab, became the first bishop in the country to be sent to jail on charges of raping a nun.
On Saturday, the magisterial court had rejected his bail and sent him to police custody. A medical check-up of the bishop was conducted at the Kottayam Police Club.
Mulakkal was arrested on September 21 after three days of questioning, he was accused by a nun of repeatedly raping her between 2014 and 2016.
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11-year-old dies by suicide after sexual assault in Bareilly; accused arrested
Bareilly (UP) (PTI): A 26-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl, who later died by suicide due to trauma, police said on Wednesday.
The post-mortem report confirmed sexual assault and multiple injuries on the minor's body, including bite marks and nail scratches. The cause of death was found to be hanging, they said.
According to ASP (South) Anshika Verma, the incident came to light on 27 April, when the girl, a Class 8 student, was found hanging at her home in Deoria Abdullaganj village under the Mirganj police station area. Initially, the family reported the death as suicide and was reluctant to pursue police action.
"The autopsy report changed the course of the investigation. It confirmed sexual assault and noted severe physical trauma. The cause of death was confirmed as hanging," Verma said.
A breakthrough in the case came from the statement of the victim's younger sister, who told police that the accused, Zeeshan (26), a resident of the same village, frequently loitered near the minor's school and allegedly gave her small sums of money to keep his interactions with her a secret, she said.
Police said that on the day of the incident, the accused allegedly lured the minor and assaulted her. Distressed by the incident, the child later took her own life while her mother was away, police said.
"Based on technical surveillance, CCTV footage, and statements from the family, we established Zeeshan's involvement. He was arrested near the Mirganj weekly market on Tuesday," they said.
