Kerala Court Gives Relief To Sister Lucy Who Was Dismissed Allegedly For Speaking Out Against Rape Accused Bishop

A Catholic nun who was dismissed from her congregation on Thursday (19 December) got a relief from a lower court near Wayanad, as she was allowed to remain at the convent.

It was in August this year the Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC) after getting the clearance from the Vatican dismissed Sister Lucy Kalapurakkal from the church at Manathavady in Kerala for disobeying church authorities.

Since then, she has been up in arms against the convent for this and a group of supporters joined hands together and approached the Manathavady Munsiff Court against her ouster from her convent.

On Thursday (19 December) hearing the petition, the court gave an injunction to her ouster and posted the case for 1 January.

Sister Kalapurakkal had last year supported the nuns' strike in the state demanding the arrest of rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who headed the Roman Catholic Diocese in Jalandhar.

A nun had filed an FIR accusing against Mulakkal of having raped her at Kerala's Kuravilangad church between 2014 and 2016.

Mulakkal was arrested in September following the protest and is currently out on bail.

However, Sister Kalapurakkal became a target of the Church authorities after she joined the nuns protest against the delay in Mulakkal's arrest despite the FIR against him.

Since then, she had been receiving notices from the church on flimsy charges such as airing her opinion about the bishop on TV channels, owning a car and writing a book.

(With inputs from IANS)