Indian Police on Tuesday charged a Roman Catholic Bishop Franco Mulakkal, with repeatedly raping a nun in a convent, officials said.
Pope Francis has already suspended Mulakkal from office at the bishop’s own request.
A nun, in her forties, accused him of sexually assaulting her over a period of two years since May 2014.
Hari Sankar, police chief of Kerala state’s Kotttayam district, said the police charge sheet was filed in a trial court in the Pala area.
“He has been charged with rape, illegal confinement, unnatural sex and intimidation under provisions of the Indian Penal Code,’’ Sankar said by phone.
READ: Danny Drinkwater charged for drink driving
Mulakkal, who faces a maximum punishment of life imprisonment, has rejected the charges.
Nuns and activists held widespread protests after which police arrested him in September 2018.
He was granted bail 30 days later.
“The filing of the charge sheet clears the decks for the trial to begin,’’ Sankar said.
The charge sheet includes statements from 83 witnesses, including senior clergy and 25 nuns, said in a statement from “Save Our Sisters Action Council” a group of members from India’s Roman Catholic Church.
The scandal is a major setback for Kerala’s Catholic Church which has been dealing with similar cases of sexual abuse in recent months.
The southern state has one of the largest Christian populations in India.
About a fourth of India’s Christians live in Kerala, where it is believed that the apostle Saint Thomas established Christianity in AD 52.
Christians comprise about 2.3 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion population according to census data, and over 70 per cent of them are Catholic.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
