Sushil Kutty
Monday September 24, is a ‘newsful’ day. Sikkim got its first and India its 100th airport. And a sub-jail in Kerala got its first Bishop inmate – Bishop Franco Mulackkal, accused of the serial rape of a nun. It’s sweet retribution for the nun-clan. More so, after one nun, who stood firm with rape-survivor nun, was divested of her duties at her convent and told to cool her heels at home. Revenge for the Bishop cooling his heels behind bars!
Sister Lucy Kalappurkkal of Mananthvadi diocese (north Kerala) returns home with the sweet flush of victory on her face and “Mother Superior of the convent” tells her she can take rest from religious service of the diocese. The Church strikes back! Vatican? “After participating in the nuns’ stir in Kochi I came back to my convent on Sunday morning. Sad, I was asked to keep away from all religious duties,” Lucy sighed.
Lucy is one of the nuns of Missionaries of Jesus who sought action against Bishop Franco Mulakkal for allegedly raping a nun. The two-week-long protest was called off Saturday after Mulakkal’s arrest. The spokesman of the Mananthvadi Diocese refused to comment on Lucy but ‘Save our Sisters’ said it will try to convince the Mananthvadi diocese to reverse its decision and let Lucy be Sister Lucy.
“It seems a witch-hunt has begun,” said Sister Jesme, activist and writer, who was defrocked ten years ago. Mulakkal was arrested on Friday after three days of questioning and stands charged under IPC Sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural offence) and 560 (1) (criminal intimidation). Charges that will kill a common man but not likely to deliver the same hammer to a Bishop on the head.
The nun stands alone and there’s no agency for her outside Kerala, not in Delhi (very little) or in Mumbai, India headquarters of #MeToo movement, though Bollywood heroes and heroines haven’t done much to boost #MeToo to America-level in Mumbai or at the box-office. As for nuns alleging #MeToo, they don’t merit a Bollywood hullabaloo like some celebrity starlet in Hollywood gets. The likes of Priyanka Chopra and Karan Johar don’t care zilch for what a Bishop does to a nun.
Ask a liberal in India, what he thinks of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh in the United States facing hurdles to get appointed to the SCOTUS, and he/she will have a litany to unload on the judge, but ask the same he/she to speak for rape-survivor nun and he/she will go missing from action before popping up in Los Angeles or San Francisco screaming #MeToo and ‘Down With Judge Kavanaugh!’
Bishop Franco should be happy #MeToo never got the same elevation in India and there seems to be no Malayalam equivalent for #MeToo to catch popular maginationt. Besides, over the weekend, news of Malayali Navy commander Abhilash Tomy flat on his back in deep sea drowned news about Bishop Franco. Was that too Church-sent? No, the fact of the matter is Franco is now caught in the grips of Tariq-pe-Tariq syndrome and only lawyer top-notch can save him.
The Church usually takes some anticipatory measures to save its own, has been taking in the West to get priests out of the choppy seas of sexual misconduct, mainly by way of transferring them to safe-haven parishes, the last of which is the Vatican. Why Bishop Franco Mulakkal was not shown the same courtesy, allowed refuge in a safe-haven, will remain a mystery like the many mysteries the Church continues to live with.
Due process will give Bishop Franco Mulakkal several options. The judiciary goes right up to the Supreme Court and Franco can climb that hill. It will be uphill but a good Sherpa in the form of a top-notch criminal lawyer can help the Bishop go down that slippery slope without getting his knees grazed and his shins bleeding raw.
From now on, for the nun-in-question, it will be the Everest! Her case has peaked and peaked early. Bishop Franco Mulakkal on the other hand still has the chance to climb the peak and plant his flag of innocence on the Everest. With the mighty Church and manna from Heaven, he’s doubly blessed! The treatment he gets at Pala Sub-Jail might be all the punishment he gets in this life. Guys getting raped behind bars is a #MeToo moment nobody talks of. (IPA Service)
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