On Friday, a Kerala court acquitted Roman Catholic Bishop Franco Mulakkal of raping a nun at a convent in the southern state.
The Bishop was acquitted by the additional district and sessions court II after the prosecution failed to show evidence against him. The precise order is still pending.
Mulakkal, 57, was accused of rapping the nun several times during a visit to a convent in Kottayam district when he was the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Jalandhar diocese.
In June 2018, police in Kottayam filed a rape complaint against the Bishop.
Franco allegedly sexually abused the nun between 2014 and 2016, according to the nun's statement to the police in June 2018.
The Bishop was detained in September 2018 by the Special Investigation Team investigating the case, and he was charged with wrongful confinement, rape, unnatural sex, and criminal intimidation.
The case's trial began in November 2019 and ended on January 10.
The court had prohibited the print and electronic media from releasing any information about the case's trial without the court's authorization.