Kerala nun alleges bishop raped her 13 times in two years, police register case

The bishop complained that the nun was blackmailing him and had earlier threatened to implicate him in a sexual harassment case.

The Kerala police on Friday registered a case against a bishop of the Syro-Malabar church following a complaint by a nun that she was sexually assaulted by him. Kottayam superintendent of police Hari Shankar said a case was registered against the Bishop of Jalandhar, Frank Mullakkal, at Kuravilangad police station.

The nun claimed that she had complained to church authorities about the abuse, but no action was taken. (Shutterstock/Photo for representation)

The bishop has also given a complaint against the nun, a mother superior of a convent, saying that she was blackmailing him and threatened to implicate him in a sexual harassment case. The nun in her complaint alleged that the bishop sexually abused after summoning her on the pretext of discussing an important issue in 2014. She said that over the next two years, she was raped 13 times by the bishop.

The nun said that she made a complaint to the church last year and was forced to file a police complaint after it failed to take action against the accused bishop. She said after filing the complaint, she was removed from her official position and complaints of financial irregularities were framed against her. However, the bishop said he was implicated for taking action against her.

The case surfaced at a time when a believer of the Orthodox Church filed a complaint against five priests alleging that they sexually exploited his wife for many years on the basis of a confession she made to one of them. The police had registered a case after the intervention of the National Women Commission.