Nun rape case: Arrested bishop to be produced before Kerala court
Kottayam (Kerala) Sep 22 : Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who has been arrested in a nun rape case, will be produced in a Kerala court on Saturday, police said.
Mulakkal, who headed the Roman Catholic Diocese in Jalandhar, Punjab, was arrested on Friday in Tripunithura after three days of questioning. He was to be produced in a Kottayam court the same day.
However, on the way he developed chest pains and had to be admitted in a hospital barely 10 km away from Kottayam.
After spending the night in the Cardiology Department of the state-run Kottayam Medical College hospital, the doctors decided to discharge him on Saturday.
As he stepped out, the public jeered at him. Mulakkal would be kept at the Kottayam Police Club till the time he was produced, the police said.
This is first time in the country that a bishop has been arrested for rape and the police have charged him for illegal confinement, rape, unnatural sex and criminal intimidation.
The action came after a nun complained that she was raped several times between 2014-16. The crime had occurred at a convent in Kottayam district.
The police probe team has till 8 p.m. to produce the bishop. Mulakkal's counsel would be moving a bail plea, while the police would seek his custody for three days.
The five nuns who took to the streets in Kochi in an indefinite protest demanding the bishop's arrest, on Saturday told the media the protest would be called off.
"This protest would not have taken place, had our church authorities taken our complaints seriously.
"We never did this for our benefit, instead we wanted to ensure that there would never be another bishop like Mulakkal who would turn a tormentor," said a nun before leaving to the protest venue.
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SC transfers RG Kar Medical College trainee doctor rape-murder case to Calcutta HC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday transferred the RG Kar Medical College trainee doctor rape and murder case to the Calcutta High Court.
The top court had taken suo motu cognisance of the case in 2024.
A bench of justices MM Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma directed that the case papers be sent to the high court.
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The top court also directed that a copy of the status report be given to the parents of the victim.
The body of the postgraduate trainee doctor was found in the hospital's seminar room on August 9 last year. The Kolkata Police arrested Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer, the next day.
On January 20, a Kolkata trial court awarded convict Roy "life term imprisonment till death" in the case. The crime triggered nationwide outrage and prolonged protests in West Bengal.
The apex court, even after the primary conviction, is monitoring multiple ancillary issues, including regularising the unauthorised absence of doctors.
While taking suo motu notice of the case, the bench constituted a National Task Force (NTF) on August 20 last year to formulate a protocol to ensure the safety and security of medical professionals in the wake of the crime.
