A Kerala court on Friday, 14 January, acquitted Bishop of Jalandhar Diocese Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a 44-year-old nun.
The verdict was delivered by Additional Sessions Judge G Gopakumar.
It was alleged, in the case, that Mulakkal had raped a nun from the Missionaries of Jesus convent in Kuravilangad, Kottayam between 2014 and 2016.
"We were expecting the accused to be punished. We've already decided to hold a meeting of the probe and prosecution team and we will be moving for appeal," Kottayam SP Harishankar, who led the probe, told news agency ANI.
Mulakkal's lawyer CS Ajayan, meanwhile, told ANI: "Prosecution miserably failed to prove their case. During cross-examination, their evidence proved to be false, not even a convincing medical certificate was produced by prosecution."