Forget my angry retort, says Mohanlal to scribe

Kochi: Malayalam actor Mohanlal has apologised for his outburst in reaction to a question about the agitation of a group of nuns seeking the arrest of Jalandhar bishop Franco Mulakkal accused of sexual harassment. The actor said that he was in a different frame of mind when a reporter unexpectedly raised the issue at the Kochi port on Saturday.

Mohanlal was visibly upset when the reporter asked his comment on the nuns' protest. “Aren't you ashamed to ask such questions?” retorted the actor who was apparently expecting questions related to the works of an NGO he had formed in memory of his parents.

“Please forget whatever I said as an elder brother,” he wrote on social media Sunday, addressing the reporter who was at the receiving end of his angry retort.

Mohanlal wrote that he could not remember the face of the person who raised the question but could not forget his reply.

“The trust I formed in memory of my father and mother, Vishwashanthi, has been working on social service and human welfare. We could also help the people affected by the recent flood. I was at the Kochi port to receive the material we received from abroad and to send it to various parts of Pathanamthitta. We had invited mediapersons. I was explaining about our works when you raised a question out of context,” Mohanlal wrote.

“That question was relevant because that concerned an issue debated all over Kerala. However, I was not in a frame of mind to answer that question, as a man and as a son,” he added. He said that he must have been irritated because the reporter did not even bother to inquire about his charity work.

The group of nuns has been holding a protest in Kochi, seeking action against the bishop. They said their agitation was not against the Church or its rules, but a cry, seeking justice for their victimised fellow nun.

The nun had accused the clergyman of sexually assaulting her repeatedly between 2014 and 2016. Bishop had, however, dismissed the allegations as 'baseless and concocted.'

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