Kerala bishop says nun targeting him for action taken
Kottayam, June 30: A Kerala bishop accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a Catholic nun has countered that the allegation was brought by the latter only to target him for taking action against her.
The Kottayam district police on Saturday launched investigations into both allegations.
The Catholic nun from here had alleged that her superior -- Franco Mulakkal, the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar, Punjab, had sexually abused her 14 times.
But Mulakkal told the media on Saturday that trouble started in 2016 when he took up a complaint against her and took it to its logical conclusion.
"When I took up the complaint against her, the harassment started from her end and it has continued unabated since then -- with allegations against me," said the bishop, who has now also filed a complaint with the police.
Countering Mulakkal's claim, the nun, however told the media that very soon she would reveal how she was exploited for over two years beginning 2014.
The police is expected to record fresh statements of both the parties.
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At least 19 killed as methane leak causes explosion at eastern Iran coal mine, state TV reports
Tehran (AP/PTI): A methane leak sparked an explosion at a coal mine in eastern Iran, killing at least 19 people and injuring another 17, Iranian state television reported Sunday.
The report said the deaths happened at a coal mine in Tabas, some 540 kilometers (335 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran.
Authorities were sending emergency personnel to the area after the blast late Saturday, it said. Around 70 people had been working there at the time of the blast.
Oil-producing Iran is also rich in a variety of minerals. Iran annually consumes some 3.5 million tons of coal but only extracts about 1.8 million tons from its mines per year. The rest is imported, often consumed in the country's steel mills.
This is not the first disaster to strike Iran's mining industry. In 2013, 11 workers were killed in two separate mining incidents. In 2009, 20 workers were killed in several incidents. In 2017, a coal mine explosion killed at least 42 people.
Lax safety standards and inadequate emergency services in mining areas are often blamed for the fatalities.
