By Joseph Mandumpal –
The decision of the Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal, an accused in the Kerala nun rape case, on Saturday to temporarily hand over the charge of Jalandhar diocese to Monsignor Mathew Kokandam amid an ongoing probe by the Kerala police is a good step forward.
For those who call this as a delayed decision, let me remind you that the police notice has reached him on Saturday and within hours on receipt of it he has made his intention to step down. Hence, there has been no delay as such.
The victim, being powerless and afraid of the consequences that would trigger on her complaint, has indeed taken some time to muster courage and come out in the open despite huge stigma of direct and indirect character assassination, which normally follow such victims.
The trial court and the courts of higher judiciary will definitely take into consideration an accused who is mighty and influential; and his possibility to influence witnesses and weaken the trial, if he is granted bail.
We must also understand that the Bishop is a person accused of a serious crime and as an accused he has every right to defend his case and prove that it was falsely foisted against him and to save permanent aberration of his reputation. Under the law, he is entitled to get an anticipatory bail, more so when the victim chose to file the police complaint after years of delay. If the accusation turns to be false then the complainant should face the brunt as well.
Media Trial
Media has been actively debating and generating opinions of guilt and recording conviction of the Bishop even before the police have concluded their investigation. The shrill voice of people wanting ‘Barabbas’ to be released and Jesus to be crucified echoes in some ears. For others, it is a fight for justice and voices of the voiceless.
Bail or no bail, the case will go on a fast-track mode and a complete trial will be like proving celibacy by a test of fire for Bishop Franco.
Medical evidence is key to all rape cases and the delay in lodging complaint and subsequent delay in the investigation has not done any good for the proposed prosecution case. Witnesses directly in support of prosecution case other than the victim / prosecutrix will be hard to find for the investigation. Circumstantial evidence will come into trial for deciding the guilt or innocence of the accused after the police file their charge sheet accusing the bishop of raping the victim nun.
An array of witnesses turning hostile to prosecution may also not be common in such cases.
The act of the accused alone matters in such rape cases. The character of the victim or even her consent in some circumstances may not save the noose for the accused.
The big question before Bishop Franco as a true leader of his flock and follower of Jesus Christ though is: Have I broken the vow of celibacy given to Jesus while being ordained as a priest of the Holy Catholic Church?
If his conscience says ‘Yes’, then he should give up priesthood and face the case as any other rape accused and the Holy Catholic Church should abandon him once for all and spell out the harshest punishment under the Canon Law. If his conscience say ‘No’ he has not done any act affecting the vow of celibacy then he should fight the case as a true Catholic priest dehors bishophood and all the pomp and powers attached to it and come out clean — fearless of the incarcerations, insults and injury to his name and fame etc.. For Jesus himself had undergone the merciless trial filled with inhuman and cruel acts of injury and insults of extreme nature, only to rise again from the dead.
All we can do is not to prejudge either the case of the victim as Gospel truth and at the same time also not blindly believe that Bishop Franco is innocent just because he is a bishop. All accused have a right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty. We can pray to God almighty to expose the truth and give courage to all administrators of law and enforcers of law to punish the guilty in an exemplar manner so that either act of false complaint or grave abuse of power of the religious to rape his subservient subordinate who is none other than the bride of Jesus Christ.
All said and done, stepping aside and seeking prayers from his sheep not only for him but also for the victim is a good sign to begin with, according to me.
Joseph Mandumpal is an advocate of more than 23 years of practice as a lawyer in various courts across India. He founded the Chennai Law Associates – a law firm rendering exemplary service in all fields of law. He is also a guest lecturer at Tamilnadu Judicial Academy and author of many published legal articles.
I am neither a Catholic, nor a devout Hindu. I am just a citizen of India who has little knowledge of the law because Charles Dickens taught me long ago not to enter into litigations in Bleak House. It is within the context of being a teacher of the singularity that is literature, I want to draw attention to the fact that victim of the gangrape at Haryana has very few to stand with her, this nun too has very few standing with her. I was educated by Christian Brothers and Jesuits who fortunately could not make a Christian out of me. Therefore I could study the life of the Nazarene on my own, the lives of Blessed Edmund Rice and the magis of Ignatius of Loyola on my own. Thus I am too plebeian to understand the politics of silence practised by the learned or take the Middle Way. Therefore while this essay above is very carefully drafted, I say that we in India need perfect #MeToo moments. And let us follow that Man from Galilee and read Foucault and turn the tables in His Father’s House. The Cardinal Pell moment has arrived in India. Have our Hindu and Catholic monks become monks to open corporate style schools, colleges and hospitals? Why do monks and nuns mix together citing STs Francis and Clare? Or Swami Vivekananda and Sister Nivedita? In a world where chastity is difficult for reprobrates like I, won’t celibacy be more difficult for some men who enter seminaries because they know that way is their only way to come close to women? I think more of Freud should be read by all. Well I have a secular cesspool of a mind, therefore this Swiftian comment. Swift’s modest proposal this is. What is the point of debating whether Paul Tillich’s ontology or Karl Rahner’s theology is correct when one nun is an apparent suicide with naphthalene in her and another termed a prostitute? May YHWH save me from all Churches and their keepers. Thank God my Religious teachers were not too Christian.