KOTTAYAM, India: A Roman Catholic bishop went on trial in southern India on Saturday accused of repeatedly raping a nun.
Franco Mulakkal arrived in court in Kottayam, Kerala state, with a group of supporters after attending morning prayers.
While the Catholic church has been rocked by sexual assault and abuse cases in many countries, Mulakkal is the first Indian clergy to go on trial.
The bishop is charged with raping the nun several times between 2014 and 2016, while head of the Missionaries of Jesus order.
Mulakkal did not immediately make a plea in court but he has denied the accusations in the run-up to the trial. He faces a maximum sentence of life in jail if found guilty.
The bishop was arrested in October last year and granted bail. On Saturday, the court extended his bail until the next scheduled hearing on January 6.
Kerala police have filed a report of more than 100 pages on the case that included statements from nuns, priests and other bishops.
The nun filed a complaint in June last year but police only started investigating three months later, after five nuns staged near daily protests outside the state high court.
The nuns wrote to Catholic leaders in India as well as the Vatican, accusing the church hierarchy of failing to take the case seriously.
The nuns were criticized by many within the church and said their families were harassed.
Indian Catholic bishop goes on trial for raping nun
Indian Catholic bishop goes on trial for raping nun
- Bishop Franco Mulakkal is the first Indian clergy to go on trial
- The bishop is charged with raping the nun several times between 2014 and 2016
Machado says Venezuelan elections could happen this year, Politico reports
- “We have a legitimate leadership with huge popular support and our armed forces are also supportive of a transition to democracy,” Machado told Politico
- Trump in January said he was considering getting Machado “involved some way“
WASHINGTON: Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she believed elections could be held in her country later this year, speaking to Politico in an interview released on Thursday.
“We believe that a real transferring process with manual voting … could be done in nine to 10 months,” Machado said. “But, well, that depends when you start.”
Machado, whose party said it won 70 percent of the vote in Venezuela’s 2024 election, met with President Donald Trump and spoke with his top diplomat and US lawmakers last month following the US capture of the country’s longtime leader Nicolas Maduro.
“We have a legitimate leadership with huge popular support and our armed forces are also supportive of a transition to democracy,” she told Politico.
Trump in January said he was considering getting Machado “involved some way” even as he has backed Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez.
Machado told Politico that she had not yet spoken to Trump about the election process. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told US lawmakers at a Jan. 28 hearing that Venezuela’s new leaders were moving toward closer ties with Washington before meeting with Machado later that day.
US intelligence reports have questioned whether Rodriguez is fully on board with the strategy for her country and if she intends to formally cut ties with US adversaries, Reuters reported last month.
