The Jallandhar based Missionaries of Jesus has served notice of transfer to four of the nuns who protested against Bishop Franco in the rape case of a fellow nun. The nuns are currently staying at a convent in Kottayam Kerala along with the nun who allegedly raped by the Bishop.

The nuns have however stated they will not leave the convent and are determined to stay on there.

The four nuns had issued public statements against the Bishop and even sat on hunger strike outside the convent. Now the four nuns——-Sister Alphy, Sister Anupama, Sister Josephine, and Sister Ancitta have been asked to leave the convent. To ensure that they no more remain together and united , they have been asked to go In an effort to isolate the nuns, and to break their collective strength, each of them has been asked to return to the convent they were previously assigned by the Missionaries of Jesus.The four nuns  have been asked to immediately leave the convent in Kerala and not to make the legal case an alibi to stay back.

The five nuns had participated in the protest in September 2018 organised by the Save Our Sisters (SOS) Action Council against Bishop Franco Mulakkal, head of the Jalandhar diocese of the Catholic Church.

Bishop Franco was arrested last year over allegations of repeated rape, which he denied. A nun, who is a member of the Missionaries of Jesus, has said that Bishop Mulakkal raped her during his May 2014 visit to her convent in Kerala. In a 72-page complaint to police, filed June 29, she alleged that the bishop sexually abused her more than a dozen times over two years. The bishop in turn claimed the allegations were made in retaliation against him because he has acted against the nun’s sexual misconduct. He alleged the nun was having an affair with her cousin’s husband.

–India Legal Bureau