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A whole lot of letters of assist have poured in for a nun in Kerala after a courtroom acquitted a bishop accused of raping and abusing her over two years, within the first case of its form to hit the Indian Catholic church.
The handwritten letters from activists, artists, journalists, film-makers and fellow nuns throughout India have expressed outrage finally week’s courtroom verdict that cleared Bishop Franco Mulakkal of all costs of sexual abuse after the choose mentioned the sufferer, a 50-year-old nun, was not a “sterling witness”.
Mulakkal, who headed the Roman Catholic diocese of Jalandhar, was accused of raping the nun on 13 events on the Missionaries of Jesus convent in Kottayam, Kerala, between 2014 and 2016.
The nun took her case to police in June 2018, and in 2019 Mulakkal was formally charged with wrongful confinement, rape, unnatural intercourse and prison intimidation, changing into the primary Indian bishop to be arrested in reference to sexual abuse. Mulakkal denied all allegations.
The landmark case uncovered deep divisions and systemic flaws throughout the Indian Catholic church when it got here to addressing allegations of sexual assault. It was solely taken critically after fellow nuns protested in assist of the alleged sufferer.
The trial, which started in 2020, lasted virtually two years, and final Friday Decide G Gopakumar discovered Mulakkal not responsible of all costs. Gopakumar questioned why it had taken the nun so lengthy to report the total extent of the alleged sexual abuse and expressed doubts over her testimony and motives.
Gopakumar mentioned there had been “exaggerations and gildings” within the nun’s witness assertion, and that she had been “swayed underneath the affect of others who had vested pursuits within the matter” and “made each try to cover sure info”.
“The in-fight and rivalry and group fights of the nuns, and the need for energy, place and management over the congregation, is obvious within the case,” wrote the choose. “The declare of the sufferer that she was raped on 13 events underneath duress can’t be taken reliance on the idea of her solitary testimony. There isn’t any consistency within the assertion of the sufferer.”
B Kemal Pasha, a former choose on the Kerala excessive courtroom, known as the decision a miscarriage of justice, including {that a} “delay in reporting such a case can’t be the rationale for the acquittal”.
S Harisankar, the police chief who oversaw the case, mentioned he had “totally anticipated a conviction” and the decision would “ship a fallacious message to society”.
In an effort to indicate widespread assist for the nuns who’ve been preventing the case and urging them to not be disheartened by the decision, a letter-writing marketing campaign started in India this week.
A whole lot of handwritten letters to the nuns have been posted on social media expressing solidarity. The actor Geetu Mohandas wrote a “word of gratitude, of thanks, for standing tall to inform your story the place many have been silenced.” One other actor, Rima Kallingal, spoke of how she had been impressed and strengthened by the sisters. “I’ll by no means be capable to thanks sufficient for this new chapter for Kerala,” she wrote.
The film-maker Leena Manimekalai, who’s preventing her personal #MeToo case of sexual harassment, wrote: “Your voice is ours, your energy is our lantern.”
The movie critic Anna MM Vetticad, wrote: “I stand with you in your battle for justice inside an detached church institution and an Indian justice system that has chosen to disgrace you.”
The Kerala authorities has mentioned it’ll enchantment in opposition to the decision. Sister Anupama, one of many nuns who had been the general public face of the marketing campaign, informed reporters outdoors the courtroom that they’d “proceed this struggle till the day our fellow sister will get justice”.
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