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On Monday, Bishop of Jalandhar diocese of Catholic Church, Franco Mulakkal was granted conditional bail by the Kerala High Court. Granting bail, the court directed the Bishop to surrender his passport and not to enter Kerala state except for appearing before the probe officer once in two weeks on Saturdays. The condition would be applicable till a chargesheet is filed in the case.
The Bishop was accused of raping a nun of the congregation, Missionaries of Jesus on multiple occasions between May, 2014 and September, 2016, abusing his dominant position.
He was arrested by the police on September 21, after three days of interrogation since September 19. On September 22, the Magistrate had granted two days police custody for further interrogation.
The police had submitted that he had to be taken to the guest house of the convent where the offence allegedly took place to gather further evidence and for further examination of his mobile records and laptop. He was then remanded to judicial custody on September 24 up to October 6.
Last month, a Division Bench of the High Court had recorded prima facie satisfaction of the course of investigation on the basis of a report submitted by the investigating officer. The court was acting on a bunch of PILs seeking arrest of Franco Mulakkal and proper investigation of the case against him. The prosecution had submitted that the meticulous investigation spanning over seven districts in Kerala, and five States was under progress, and statements of 81 witnesses have been taken. It was further submitted that there were contradictions in the witness statements, and the police was in the process of cross-checking them.
The court was also told that notice under Section 41A of CrPC has been served on Franco Mulakkal to appear before police on September 19 for interrogation. The DGP had asserted that the decision regarding his arrest can be taken only after his interrogation, and verification of contradictions in the evidence.
Thereafter, on October 3, the high court dismissed his bail application, holding that there existed a prima facie case against him.
The plea was dismissed by Justice Raja VijayaRaghavan, who opined that it was premature and that the investigation was steadily progressing in the matter. Additionally, the court took note of the separate proceedings initiated against him alleging that he made attempts to influence the witnesses in the matter.
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