The bail plea will be heard by Justice V Raja Vijayaraghavan today
Nuns protest as they demand the arrest of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who is accused of raping a nun, outside the High Court in Kochi. (Photo: AFP)
A day before he is to appearing before the police probe team, Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused in a case of sexually abusing a nun, moved the Kerala High Court on Tuesday seeking anticipatory bail.
Franco Mulakkal, the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Jalandhar, has pleaded the court to see he is not arrested until the anticipatory bail plea is heard and disposed of.
The bail plea would be heard by Justice V. Raja Vijayaraghavan, later on Tuesday.
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In his petition, Franco Mulakkal termed the complaint against him a “false” and a “concocted” one. He said it was meant to harass him.
READ | Missionaries of Jesus continues to defend Bishop accused of rape
A Kerala nun, the complainant, has accused him of continuously sexually abusing her between 2014 and 2016.
An FIR was registered against the bishop, after a 114-page detailed statement was taken from the nun and other inmates of the convent.
Mulakkal was also questioned by the police in August at his Jalandhar office.
Meanwhile, Kerala Mahila Congress general secretary M. Haripriya has started an indefinite strike in Kochi demanding arrest of the bishop.
(With agency inputs)
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