Kochi: Six Kerala nuns, who have been leading a campaign against rape accused Jalandhar bishop Franco Mulakkal, have written to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, seeking his urgent intervention in the case.
The nuns, four of them have been transferred to different locations from Kuravilangad Convent where they are posted now, shot off the letter days after they received the transfer order from the Missionaries of Jesus. Sr Anupama, Sr Alphy, Sr Josephine, Sr Ancita, Sr Neena were the protesters who had sought justice for the victim nun in the rape case.
In the letter to the CM, the nuns have alleged that the bishop was powerful enough to sabotage the case. They urged Pinarayi to ensure that they are not transferred.
Sister Anupama, a Missionaries of Jesus nun who led the agitation, had told Onmanorama that they were being victimised and the transfer of the four was an attempt to harass them. She also alleged that nuns holding key posts in Punjab were being purposefully brought to Kuravilangad Convent (in Kerala's Kottayam district) to torture them.
Bishop Franco was arrested on September 21, 2018, on charges of rape, unnatural sex, criminal intimidation and illegal confinement, three months after the complaint by the victim and protests by her fellow nuns in Ernakulam.
In the complaint filed on June 28, 2018, he was accused of raping her 13 times from 2014 to 2016 at Kuravilangad.
Franco, who got bail on October 15, received a rousing welcome from his followers in Jalandhar when he reached there.
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