KOTTAYAM: Shocked by the “unexpected” verdict acquitting Bishop Franco Mulakkal in the nun rape case, Sr. Anupama who led from the front in the survivor’s battle vowed to continue “the fight for our sister till she gets justice” and said they would file an appeal in a higher court challenging Friday’s verdict.
“We are unable to believe this judgment. We haven’t got justice from the judiciary. We will fight for our sister till she gets justice even if we have to lose our lives. We will file an appeal against the verdict in the higher court,” Sr Anupama, a fellow member of the victim’s diocese, said. Sr Anupama and two other nuns were seen struggling hard not to break down before the media.
“We don’t know what we should understand from this judgment. What we understand is that common people like us should be silent whatever happens to us and should not raise any complaints. The common belief that those who have power, money and influence can do whatever they want has been proved right here as well,” she said.
Meanwhile, the condition of the survivor was even more difficult as she was denied a normal life and was confined herself in the compound of a convent in Kuravilanagad ever since she lodged a complaint against the bishop, said sources close to her. The ordeal she has been undergoing ever since she was allegedly raped for the first time in May 2014 in this convent was still continuing.
After the nun was physically tortured through sexual exploitation from 2014 to 2016, she has been undergoing through mental trauma all these years.
“She (the survivor) has been struggling a lot all these years. After going through severe psychological pressure without sharing her sufferings even to her colleagues for more than two years, she decided to file a complaint in 2018 as advised by her colleagues. Like the accused, the victim is also pushed to severe mental pressure when she is isolated by others,” said then Superintendent of Police Harisankar, who oversaw the investigation.
Harisankar added that there was no point in the argument that the victim delayed lodging the complaint. “When the nun and the assailant were in a fiduciary relationship, her existence and even her life was in the hands of the assailant. In such a situation, we can’t accept the argument that a nun should have responded on the spot,” he added.