The rape case against former Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal is yet to go to trial, but it has already been riddled with controversies. Now, the protesting nuns have alleged that the evidence has been tampered with.
Sister Anupama has alleged that the cyber-forensic reports that were submitted to the court and investigating officials were different from the original copy.
The original DVDs had three folders which contained details of a laptop and mobile phone seized from Mulakkal. But in the DVDs submitted by the forensic science laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram, two folders were found to be blank, reported The Hindustan Times.
The incident was brought to light when a copy of the DVDs were handed to the counsel of the accused.
The sisters have alleged that this is one of the many deliberate attempts by the accused to delay the trial and mask the truth.
“Bishop Franco’s counsel kept filing petitions requesting to access a copy of the DVD from the Forensic Science Laboratory’s investigation. This and now the discovery of evidence dilution, I believe, is a deliberate attempt by the accused to weaken the case against him. The court has now ordered the FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) to furnish the entire copy of the DVD with all contents to the investigating officers.”Sister Anupama to The News Minute
Sister Anupama added that she will lodge a complaint if the laboratory fails to submit all the evidence to the investigating officers, said the media report.
The case has now been adjourned to 9 August.
A 43-year-old nun, also a mother superior, had filed a complaint in June 2018, alleging Franco Mulakkal had raped her 13 times between 2014 and 2016, when he was the Bishop of the Jalandhar diocese. Five nuns had then sat in protest seeking his arrest.
He was arrested in September 2018 but he got bail three weeks after that. Just after that, the key witness in the case, Father Kurialkose Kattuthara, was found dead in his room in Punjab raising suspicion.
Mulakkal has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 376C (sexual intercourse by person in authority), Section 377 (unnatural sex) and 506(1) (criminal threat).
The victim and five nuns have alleged they have been intimidated and threatened several times to stop pursuing the case. They are now confined to their convent in Kuravilangad in Kottayam.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)