In a sensational and shocking development, the Kottayam Additional Sessions Court on Thursday reportedly framed rape charges against Jalandhar Diocese's Bishop, Franco Mulakkal.

The Bishop was accused by a 43-year-old nun who is a member of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation in Punjab of sexually abusing her in Kerala between 2014 and 2016.

Commencing trial on the case, the judge read out the charges to Mulakkal which include rape, repeated rape and misuse of authority, among others.

The Bishop, however, has denied all the charges.

The nun had filed a police complaint with Kerala's Kottayam Police in June 2018. In 2019, upon facing "harassment" by the senior priest of the Roman Catholic Church and his supporters she had approached the National and Kerala Women's Commissions as well as the National Human Rights Commission.  

The trial was initially scheduled to start in last year November itself, but kept getting delayed.