india

Updated: Jul 29, 2019 11:58 IST

Protesting nuns of the Missionaries of Jesus Congregation on Saturday alleged that there are serious attempts to weaken the rape case against the deposed bishop of Jalandhar Franco Mullakal.

They cited the alleged fudging of DVDs submitted before the court to buttress their claim. The judicial first class magistrate court in Pala (Kottayam) on Friday found differences in the contents of DVDs submitted by the forensic science laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram. The original DVDs, which contained details of contents of a laptop and mobile phone seized from Mullakal, had three folders. However, in the DVDs submitted by the lab two out of three folders were blank.

“There are serious attempts to delay and weaken the case. We suspect DVDs, one of the evidence, were tampered at the forensic lab. If the lab won’t correct its follies we will be forced to move the court,” said Sister Anupama, one of the five nuns who sat on dharna in Kochi seeking action against the bishop. Differences were found when the court verified two sets of DVDs to hand over a copy to the counsel of the accused as requested by him.

The case against Mullakal surfaced last June after a 43-year-old nun, also a mother superior, had complained to the police that he had raped her 13 times between 2014 and 2016. Five nuns later staged a sit-in protest seeking his arrest. The special investigation team had arrested him in September after several rounds of questioning and he secured bail after three weeks. Two weeks after his release the main witness in the case of Father Kurialkose Kattuthara was found dead in his room in Punjab under mysterious circumstances.

“There is a deliberate attempt to delay the case raising new demands when the trial came up. Earlier they asked for a copy of the charge-sheet and now they sought copy of DVDs. It seems DVDs were fudged,” Shyju Antony, a member of ‘Save Our Sisters’ forum, a rightist body which is helping the agitating nuns, said.

A member of the investigation team, who did not want to be named, said they approached the forensic science laboratory after they found some files were deleted from seized lap and mobile of Mullakal. Since the devices were sent through the court original DVDs were kept but when the lab report came some differences were found in fresh DVDs. Following this the court had directed the police to submit the original DVD and posted the case for Aug 9.

There were many attempts to intimidate and transfer five nuns who stood with the victim firmly. The victim and five nuns are now confined to their convent in Kuravilangad in Kottayam. They said they were leading a secluded life and not allowed to participate in congregation services.