Uneasy calm prevails at Jalandhar Bishop House

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 8

Ahead of the filing of chargesheet by the Kerala Police in the alleged nun rape case against Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal in the Judicial Magistrate of Pala court tomorrow, an uneasy calm prevails at the Bishop House here.

As many as 82 priests from churches falling under the Jalandhar Diocese are present at the Bishop House for the clergy annual retreat which will end this Friday. The event is held every year in the week preceding Good Friday, which falls on April 19.

Amid the ongoing programme, the Apostolic Administrator of Jalandhar Diocese, Bishop Agnelo Gracias, has called for a special prayer tomorrow. In a message titled ‘Tuesday-The day of prayer’ that he has circulated among the priests, he has written, “Chargesheet of Bishop Franco will be submitted on Tuesday. Kindly, keep this day as the day of prayer. Let the truth come out. Let us all pray for the same.”

It is learnt that the chargesheet which runs in over 1,000 pages will have statements of 83 witnesses, including Cardinal George Alencherry and three Bishops of Pala Diocese, Bhagalpur and Ujjain. The police will also incorporate the statements of 25 nuns and 11 priests as witnesses in the case, besides others. The Kerala Police had videographed all statements so that there was little chance of anyone backtracking.

The investigations had been carried out by Vaikom DSP K Subhash under the supervision of Kottayam police chief Hari Sankar. The nun had lodged the complaint against the Bishop on June 27 after which the Kerala Police lodged an FIR. The Bishop was arrested in Kochi following 86-day probe by the team. Having remained in jail for 21 days, he was released on October 17 and returned to a hero’s welcome at the Bishop House. 

At present, Bishop’s aide Father Anthony Madasserry is also facing an inquiry by the I-T team after the Khanna police raided his premises two weeks ago and recovered Rs 9.66 crore unaccounted cash.