Indian nun who accused bishop of rape vows Supreme Court fight

An Indian nun who accused a bishop of rape has said she will pursue the case to the Supreme Court, in a television interview aired almost four years after the bishop was acquitted by a lower court.

Sr. Ranit Pallassery made the statement in a Jan. 10 interview with Asianet News in which she publicly disclosed her identity for the first time, choosing to waive the anonymity she is entitled to under Indian law.

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A long-form report published in August 2025 by the Indian website The News Minute previously used her name with her permission, but did not publicly disclose her identity fully.

Sr. Ranit told Asianet News: “I have decided to see this case through the High Court and the Supreme Court. Until I get a verdict from the Supreme Court, I will not rest. I will continue to fight for my justice.”

Sr. Ranit, the former superior general of the Missionaries of Jesus, a religious congregation in the Jalandhar diocese, said she had decided to give a television interview to dispel the idea that she accepted the 2022 acquittal of Bishop Franco Mulakkal.

“I want people to know that we are still alive, we are still here… our struggle is still continuing,” she said.

Mulakkal served as the Bishop of Jalandhar — a Latin Rite diocese in the northwestern state of Punjab — until 2023, when Pope Francis accepted his resignation at the age of 59. Mulakkal retained the title of bishop and continued to serve as a retreat leader, UCA News has reported.

Mulakkal had not offered any public response to the television interview at press time. He has always maintained his innocence of the allegations.

In the 45-minute interview with the Malayalam-language channel, Sr. Ranit rejected claims that she was motivated by money.

“I have not received a single rupee from the diocese or from Franco,” she commented, explaining that she supported herself through tailoring work at her convent. She stressed that she wished to remain living as a nun.

Sr. Ranit filed a legal complaint against Mulakkal on June 27, 2018. She said she had suffered 13 separate incidents of rape and sexual assault between 2014 and 2016, when the bishop visited her congregation’s convent in Kuravilangad, a town in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

On Sept. 8, 2018, five nuns launched an unprecedented public protest in Kochi, Kerala, demanding that the bishop be arrested. The sit-in protest drew international attention to the case.

Mulakkal was arrested on Sept. 21, 2018, after days of questioning, and charged with rape, wrongful confinement, unnatural offenses, and criminal intimidation. He was the first Catholic bishop in India to face the charges, which he strongly denied.

On Jan. 14, 2022, the Additional District and Sessions Court in Kottayam, Kerala, issued a 289-page ruling that found Mulakkal not guilty of the alleged offenses.

Both Sr. Ranit and the State of Kerala filed an appeal against the verdict.

Pope Francis accepted Mulakkal’s resignation as the Bishop of Jalandhar on June 1, 2023.

The apostolic nunciature in India said in a statement that the Vatican respected both the lower court’s acquittal verdict and the appeal lodged at the Kerala High Court. It also clarified that the bishop’s resignation was requested not as a disciplinary measure, but “pro bono Ecclesiae” (for the good of the Church), and especially for the good of the Jalandhar diocese.

The nunciature said that Mulakkal’s new status as Bishop Emeritus of Jalandhar did “not imply canonical restrictions on his ministry.”

The five nuns who took part in the 2018 protest reported that they faced ostracism and financial struggles following their decision to speak out. Three of the nuns later left religious life.

Sr. Anupama Kelamangalathuveliyil, who led the protest, left the Missionaries of Jesus in 2025 and returned to her home village to work at an IT company.

Sr. Lucy Kalappurackal, who was reportedly expelled from the Franciscan Clarist Congregation after joining the protest by the Missionaries of Jesus, enrolled as a lawyer in the Kerala High Court Jan. 10.

“I hope I can be a voice and help, going forward, those people and nuns who are denied justice,” she told journalists.

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