Will ask centre to ban PFI, SDPI if they involved in Rudresh murder: RSS

Thiruvanthapuram, Feb 21: Rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal has been accused of sexual abuse by another nun. Police sources say that there is at least one more nun who has given a statement of sexual assault against the bishop.

This nun is a witness in the rape case registered against Franco Mulakkal. She is the 14th witness in the case and in her statement, she said that the bishop made sexually-colored and lewd remarks to her over the phone.

As per the nun, they were in communication via phone calls, chat and video calls for a period of two years from 2015 to 2017.

In the statement, the nun said that she kept quiet as she was scared of the bishop.

In her witness statement in September 2018, she said that in 2017, the bishop visited the convent she was in and hugged and kissed her.

Police say that the witness was not ready to file a complaint against the bishop. They had alerted the police in the jurisdiction and when the team met her, she refused to file a complaint. Hence a separate case wasn't registered against Bishop Franco

The first nun of Missionaries of Jesus had accused Franco of raping her multiple times at the Kuruvilangadu convent in Kottayam. The FIR in the case was registered in June 2018.

Then after protests, Franco was arrested on September 21, 2018.

The chargesheet in the case was submitted in April 2019. In the chargesheet, Bishop Franco Mullackal has been charged under various sections of the IPC: 342 (wrongful confinement), 376 (2k) (rape on a woman incapable of giving consent), 376 (2n) (causing grievous bodily harm during rape), 376 (c) (a) 377 (unnatural offence) and 506 (1) (criminal intimidation).

Mangaluru, Mar 5: Chairman of Karnataka Christian Development Committee (CDC) Joylus DSouza on Thursday welcomed the allocation of a Rs 200-crore grant in the state budget for the development of the Christian community.

In his message to the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa released to the media, DSouza said, "Christians in Karnataka welcome with gratitude the announcement of Rs 200-crore allocation for the community in the budget for fiscal 2020-21."

In 2011-12 fiscal also, Yediyurappa as Chief Minister had allocated a grant of Rs 50 crore for the community for the first time in the history of the state, he said.

The grant of Rs 200 crore this year shows Yediyurappas concern for the Christians.

I congratulate and offer my sincere gratitude on behalf of the Christian community of the state to Yediyurappa, DSouza said.

Bengaluru, Feb 9: Senior JD(S) leader and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda has called upon all the regional parties and secular parties to join hands with the Congress and work in tandem to take on the BJP.

Noting that mere speeches would not help, he said the regional and secular parties should enhance their strength politically in the country.

"We all need to join together with Congress and work in tandem with the available strength only then will we be able to stop them (the BJP)," the JD(S) supremo said at a public meeting organised by the party in Hassan district on Saturday.

Gowda cautioned the regional and secular parties against sitting idle watching the developments in the country.

"If the small and regional parties do not exercise the powers given by Dr B R Ambedkar to the country, they (BJP) are going to the extent of finishing them up," he said. Interestingly, the JD(S) patriarch, had in the run-up to the December bypolls to Karnataka assembly said he would not align with the Congress and dubbed it as "not trustworthy."