Christians take out procession for justice

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 14

Thousands of members of the Catholic Church today held a rosary march in the district to express their solidarity and to pray for Bishop Franco Mulakkal who was arrested last month, following charges of rape by a nun of the Roman Catholic Church.

Led by Father Yunus, the march saw over 2,000 supporters holding a rosary procession from the St Josephs Boys School to the BSF Chowk and back to the school. From the Bishop’s house representatives, Father Thomas and Father Xavier led the procession. While they expressed solidarity for Bishop Franco, community members also expressed support for Bishop Agnelo Gracias, who was appointed as the Jalandhar Bishop after his arrest.

Christians from Jalandhar, Beas, Amritsar, Dhariwal among other places participated in the procession.

Father Thomas said, “This month is dedicated to the rosary. The community has offered overwhelming support to the Bishop and this was a prayer march in their support. We are praying for truth and justice to prevail. While we did not publicise the march much, but Christians offered their support on their own accord and the march saw a rousing response.”

There are over 30,000 Chritsians belonging to the Catholic community in Jalandhar alone.

Bishop Franco Mulakkal, was arrested at Kochi on September 21 amidst allegations of repeated sexually assault on a nun. He was arrested by the Kerala police three days after being taken from Jalandhar, following which he was interrogated for three days.

His arrest took place a day after the Vatican relieved him of all pastoral responsibilities as the Bishop of Jalandhar diocese.

On October 3, the Kerala High Court denied Mulakkal’s bail plea and on October 6, a Kerala court extended his judicial custody till October 20.