Jalandhar (Punjab): Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who is accused of raping a nun, has tested positive for COVID-19, officials confirmed on Tuesday.
Jalandhar Diocese PRO Father Peter informed that Mulakkal underwent a test for COVID-19 on Monday evening, which came back positive.
Pertinently, Mulakkal had earlier tested negative for the virus on July 6. The PRO informed that Mulakkal had two long sitting with his lawyer Mandeep Sachdeva, whose family has tested positive for coronavirus. Since July 6, Mulakkal has been in home isolation, the PRO said.
Earlier yesterday, the Kottayam Additional Sessions Court cancelled the bail granted to Mulakkal for failing to appear for the trial in the case and issued a Non Bailable Warrant against him. The Bishop was not present in the court during the hearing.
Mulakkal's counsel informed the court that his client could not appear as he had been in self quarantine due to his primary contact with a COVID-19 infected person.
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During the previous hearing on July 1 also he had failed to appear before the Court. His counsel had then submitted that the priest could not appear as he was stuck in a COVID-19 containment zone at Jalandhar in Punjab.
However, the prosecution countered the claim, saying the place where he lived in Jalandhar was not a COVID-19 containment zone on July 1. The Court cancelled his bail, considering the prosecution argument that the accused was trying to delay the trial, and posted the case to August 13.
The rape case against the Bishop was registered by police in Kottayam district. In her complaint to the police in June 2018, the nun had alleged that she was subjected to sexual abuse by the Bishop between 2014 and 2016.
The bishop, who was arrested by the Special Investigation team which probed the case, has been charged with wrongful confinement, rape, unnatural sex and criminal intimidation.
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