Catholic bishop accused of repeatedly raping nun is acquitted in India

New Delhi — An Indian court has acquitted a Catholic bishop who was charged with raping a nun in a case that sparked widespread outrage and protests. Bishop Franco Mulakkal, 54, was acquitted by a court in the southern Indian state of Kerala on Friday, which said the prosecution had failed to prove any of the charges against him.

The nun, whose identity is protected under Indian law, had alleged that Mulakkal, who was the bishop of a diocese in Jalandhar in the northern state of Punjab at the time, raped her 13 times between 2014 and 2016 when he would visit the convent where she lived in southern state of Kerala. 

The convent, Missionaries of Jesus, is part of the Jalandhar diocese. The nun faced "harassment" and "threats" from the bishop for two years in a bid to keep her silent about the alleged rape, but she "finally gathered courage in 2016" to come forward, she told CBS News in an off-camera interview in 2019.