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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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
