Jalandhar: Father Kuriakose Kattuthara, 62, a priest at St Paul’s church in Hoshiarpur district, Punjab, was found dead in his room in the church on Monday morning. He had testified against Bishop Franco Mulakkal, the Catholic priest accused of raping a Kerala nun and supported the protests by other nuns. He had made statements claiming that he feared for his life.
 
His family has filed a police complaint calling it a “mysterious, sudden death” and alleging he feared for his life and was attacked earlier.
 
The police said that no injury was found but there were signs he had vomited. Blood pressure medicine was also found near him.
 
A police complaint was filed by Father Kuriakose’s brother in Alappuzha. “…my brother was repeatedly threatened by persons close to the bishop (who) damaged a car and threw stones at his house in Jalandhar…There was a deliberate attempt on the part of the bishop, his relatives and associates to persuade the witnesses in the case either through undue influence or threatening,” said Jose Kurian in a report by NDTV, demanding that the body be brought to Alappuzha instead of being given to the Punjab police.
 
Franco Mulakkal, a senior priest accused of repeatedly raping a nun between 2013 and 2016, was released from a prison in Kerala on bail last week. He was welcomed by his supporters with rose petals and garlanded when he arrived in Jalandhar. Father Kuriakose was seen as the prime witness in the case.
 
The investigating officer of the case, DYSP Subhash told NDTV: “Father Kuriakose was a witness but did not have any pivotal role in the case. He was one of the priests we questioned and is among the five-six priests who mentioned that they were aware of the allegations against Bishop Franco.”
 
“Father Kuriakose’s brother said he was diabetic and a blood pressure patient but had no major health problem. “Three days ago, I talked with him and he told me he was facing threats and other hooliganism from the associates of the bishop and he even feared for his life,” he wrote in the report.
 
One of the five nuns who came out in solidarity with their colleague in her allegations against the bishop told NDTV, “We are very shaken by this news. We suspect something is wrong. We had found out he was under pressure not to talk in our support. He repeatedly did that”.
 
“His body has been sent for an autopsy in Jalandhar, and the report is awaited. However, Father Kattuthara’s family has demanded that his body be brought back to Kerala, and that the postmortem examination be conducted in the state and not in Punjab. Father Kuriakose’s brother told ANI: (We) have no faith in the Punjab Police. We want to bring the body to Alappuzha and bury it. If they want to do postmortem without letting us know, is there any guarantee that it’ll be done without foul play?” reported Firstpost.
 
Bishop Mulakkal’s spokesperson from Jalandhar diocese, Father Peter, said that his death was natural and Bishop Mulakkal had no personal enmity with him.
 
“We got to know about this at 10 am today (Monday). Bishop (Franco Mulakkal) has no connection with the death of Father Kattuthara, as there was no personal enmity between them,” Father Peter was quoted as saying by CNN-News18.
 
“The body of Kattuthara, a native of Allepy in Kerala, was found in his room on the premises of the St Mary’s Church by his cook around 9am. The cook, identified as Madan, knocked on the priest’s door for breakfast but he did not respond. Madan then informed Sister Lisabeth, the principal of the St Paul Convent School. “When we broke open the door, we found father lying on his bed. We immediately took him to the civil hospital, where he was declared brought dead,” said Sister Lisabeth said. “There was vomit in the room and some tablets were found near the bed,” she added. Lisabeth said that Kattuthara was suffering from multiple health ailments, including diabetes, high blood pressure and heart problem, and on was medication,” reported Hindustan Times.
 
“Earlier, Father Kuriakose has alleged that he was under severe pressure by church officials for his support of the nun who has accused the bishop of rape. In an interview to Mathrubhumi, Fr Kuriakose had said, “The sisters had approached me complaining about Bishop Franco. They did not approach the Kerala police fearing the bishop. In fact, I fear what will happen to me for speaking out against him.” Father Kuriakose, who was a vocational teacher at the Jalandhar diocese, had also taught the survivor nun and the other nuns who protested for justice. SP Harishankar, who is investigating the rape case, confirmed to TNM that Father Kuriakose was a prosecution witness against Bishop Franco in the case,” reported The News Minute. 

Read Also:
Kerala Nun Rape Case: Vatican temporarily relieves accused Bishop of his duties
Rape of a Nun: Bishop Franco Mulakkal Arrested 
How the Church needs to change the way it addresses Sexual and Gender-based abuse
 

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A nun belonging to the Catholic congregation of Missionaries of Jesus in Jalandhar filed a police complaint against bishop Franco Mulakkal on June 27 this year accusing the clergyman of sexually assaulting her over a period of two years starting in May 2014.

Accusing the bishop of sending lewd messages and obscene pictures over the phone, the nun said she had also informed Cardinal George Alancherry, the head of the Kochi-based Syro-Malabar Church about the alleged abuse. Alencherry has claimed that the nun had talked about the “torture” at the congregation, but did not mention sexual abuse. As the Church took no action, the nun approached the police.

After her allegations became public, others came forward saying the bishop, who hails from Kerala, had forced at least 18 inmates to quit the order. The family of the nun has maintained that despite a complaint to the Delhi Archbishop Anil Couto, nothing was done. An FIR was registered against the bishop on June 28 and a detailed 114-page statement was recorded of the nun and other inmates of the convent.

The nun made the complaint only after Mullackal went to the police claiming the alleged victim and five other nuns were harassing and blackmailing him. He denies the rape accusations and says the alleged victim has a vendetta against him.

The police questioned bishop Franco Mulakkal for nine hours on August 14 in connection with allegations of rape levelled against him and left without arresting him.

When asked why Mulakkal was not arrested, the team head, DSP K Subhash, said the senior priest had “cooperated” during questioning and that they would return to Bishop’s residence “if required”.

“We have been knocking on the doors of the church and the government. There is nobody to help us in our cause,’’ said Sister Anupama, one of the nuns who is participating in the protest.

The protest was called due to the fact that since the case was registered months back, the police had taken 12 statements from the victim but only one from the accused bishop.

The nun on September 11 wrote a letter to the Vatican representative in India seeking justice.

In a letter dated September 8, the nun alleged the bishop coveted nuns.

“Whichever sister Franco felt attracted to, he tried to put them in trap by force or taking advantage of their weakness,” the letter said. She also alleged that the bishop was using “political and money power” to bury the case and sought his removal.

The Kerala High Court asked the police to reveal the steps taken in the investigation so far. The court also sought to know what the government was doing to ensure the security of the victim and the nuns who were supporting her.

The case has exposed deep ruptures inside Kerala’s Roman Catholic church, whose adherents numbered close to 1 million according to the most recent census in 2011. The southern state has one of the largest Christian populations in India and one of the oldest in the world.

The Church is facing trial by fire due to sexual allegations against the clergy from all parts of the world. Pope Francis has called a synod of Bishops to discuss the issue.

Courtesy: https://countercurrents.org/
 

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Image Courtesy: Reuters

In a letter Bishop Franco says, “I would like to thank all of you for your continued support and prayers for me at this time continued problems affecting my Episcopal ministry. As you have probably come to know from the media the investigation into the allegations raised against me there are several contradictions in the evidences collected against me as per the report of the police. It is reported I am likely to be called for further clarifications by the investigating officer in Kerala.”

By releasing the picture, Missionaries of Jesus had not only broken the law protecting the identity of rape survivors, but the move was also seen as an alleged bid to malign the survivor nun’s character and dilute the strength of her claim. Earlier Kerala MLA PC George had called the nun a prostitute. He was forced to retract the comment under intense pressure after the National Commission for Women (NCW) demanded action against him and a social media backlash where people started a campaign to send him duct tape to shut his mouth!
The Kerala Police have already filed charges against the congregation for releasing the survivor’s picture. The case was registered by the survivor nun’s brother at the Kuravilangadu Police Station in Kottayam district.

Brief Background of the case
The nun had filed a police complaint saying that she was allegedly raped 13 times by Jallandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal over a period of two years (2014-2016), when she was at a convent in Kuravilangad, a small town near Kottayam in Kerala. The accused Bishop admits to have stayed in a room at a mission house at the convent on 13 occasions when he visited Kerala during that period.

The nun said that she had approached church authorities on multiple occasions, but her complaints fell on deaf ears, forcing her to approach the police. In fact, during police investigations, Joseph Kallarangatt who is Bishop of the Syro-Malabar diocese of Pala, told investigators that the nun had met him and told him about her ordeal.

Meanwhile, Bishop Franco Mulakkal, the accused, had claimed in an interview to Times of India that his conscience is clear. In fact, in the same interview he launched a counter allegation against the nun claiming that she was getting back at him because he was investigating her for her alleged affair with the husband of one of her cousins. The Church was accused of not only victim shaming, but also an alleged cover up!

But many within the church stood by the survivor nun and several senior priests and nuns wrote to Cardinal Oswald Gracious, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India and Vatican Nuncio Giambattista Diquattro, demanding that that the accused Bishop be relieved of his duties.

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