Kochi: Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who is accused of raping a nun, was on Tuesday granted bail by the Kerala High Court. The court has laid down conditions for the bail, directing him to surrender his passport and asking him not to enter Kerala.  The prelate, who was in charge of the Jalandhar diocese, was arrested three weeks ago- on September 21 after three days of questioning in Kerala, over the charges of raping a nun of his congregation, Missionaries of Jesus, repeatedly between 2014 and 2016.

He became the first Indian Catholic bishop to be arrested in a case of the alleged sex crime against a nun. He, however, refuted the allegations, terming them "baseless and concocted."