India Church ‘glorifying’ Indian bishop accused of raping nun

NEW DELHI (INDIA)
UCANnews.com

December 3, 2018

India’s National Commission for Women has accused Catholic Church officials of failing to support and protect a nun who has accused a bishop of raping her.

Chairwoman Rekha Sharma told media in Kochi city on Dec. 1 that the official church was “glorifying” Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar while failing to protect the alleged victim.

“They [church officials] are glorifying the accused bishop,” Sharma said after meeting a delegation of Catholics who sought the commission’s intervention to provide security for the nun and her supporters in a convent.

Sharma alleged that church officials were not listening or acting to protect the nuns. The church has also failed by not having an internal system to report sex abuse, she said.

“There was nobody she [the nun] could go to and complain. We have also written to the church urging them to constitute internal complaint committees where women can complain,” she said.
The 48-year-old nun, former superior of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation, complained to Kerala police in July that Bishop Mulakkal raped her 13 times between 2014 and 2016.

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