Nun's sexual assault: Police team examines statements

A police team probing the allegation of rape against a Bishop of the Jalandhar diocese today went through the statements given to it and a magistrate by a nun, who had accused the clergyman of sexually assaulting her.

The probe team examined the statements given to it and a judicial first class magistrate under CrPC Section 164, said an investigating official after visiting the nun at her convent in Kuravilangad, near here.

They said the statement given to the magistrate was in line with the one given to the police.

A preliminary report on the investigation would be submitted to the Kottayam district police in a day or two, the probe team said.

The investigating team is planning to go to Jalandhar to interrogate Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar diocese of Roman Catholic Church, but a decision will be taken after consulting with top officials, police said.

Meanwhile, authorities of the congregation of nuns, to which the victim belongs, has reportedly warned some of its members for supporting her in her fight against the Bishop.

Two days ago, the nun had complained to the National Commission for Women that the Kerala Police was "not working" in the case as the accused is a "highly linked" person.

NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma had said this after she met the nun at her convent on Saturday.

Sharma met her two days after a magistrate court recorded the nun's statement in the case.

The police team investigating the case had earlier moved the court in Changanassery to record her statement under CrPC Section 164 (recording of confessions and statements).

In her complaint to the district police chief, the nun has charged the Bishop with rape and unnatural sex multiple times at a small town near here between 2014 and 2016.