After reports of how Sister Lucy Kalappura has been the victim of multiple harassments by the Catholic Church came out, the National Women’s Commission (NWC) has now intervened in the matter. On Wednesday, the Commission wrote to the Kerala police chief, Loknath Behera, asking him to come to the rescue of the nun. Sister Lucy, who protested against rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal, had been complaining of immense harassment from the church, including the orders to oust her from the congregation.
NWC’s letter comes a day after reports of the recent attempt to slander the nun surfaced. A priest had released a toxic YouTube video, making defamatory commentary based on a CCTV footage that simply shows the nun entering the Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC) convent at Karakkamala in Mananthavady, Wayanad, with two journalists.
Condemning the act, the woman’s body wrote to the state police chief, urging him to immediately intervene in the matter and to arrest those involved in the reported crime.
Noble Thomas Parackal, a priest of the Mananthavady Diocese, attempted to malign the image of the nun, by suggesting that Sister Lucy engaged in an illicit relationship with the two men. He, however, omits the visuals of the woman journalist, who came with the two men.
A case has been registered against the priest as well as the five nuns of the convent on a complaint by Sister Lucy.
NWC also stated that these acts are moves to put Sister Lucy under pressure in the rape case against Franco. “While we are waiting for the investigations to get over in the rape case, these acts are tactics to put the victim under pressure so that she steps back,” the commission chairperson stated in an official release.
The commission also stated that immediate action should be taken against the culprit and demanded a report on this from the DGP’s office as soon as possible. “We will not accept people holding respectable positions misuse their authority for wrongful actions,” read the statement.
Sister Lucy was given expulsion orders from the congregation earlier this month for a ‘lifestyle not befitting the law of the Church’ and these included publishing poems and driving car. But notably, all the accusations started after the nun publicly came out supporting the five other nuns who were protesting against Franco Mulakkal, who has been accused of raping a nun at Kurivalangad Convent in Kottayam district multiple times.
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