Kottayam: Four nuns of Kuruvilangad convent have submitted a letter to the chief minister of Kerala on Friday pointing out that the church is attempting to subvert the rape case against Bishop Franco Mulackal. 

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The letter says that the nuns are receiving regular death threats and the state government should block the transfer of nuns. 

The four nuns received the order from Superior General Regina, transferring them to separate locations. Sister Anupama, who led the protest, has been transferred to Punjab. In the notice given to the sisters, it is said that disciplinary action was taken against the sisters for getting involved in a criminal case and staging public protests, which went against the ideology of the church.

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Sister Josephine has been accused of ‘abandoning the community’ and has been transferred to Jharkhand. Sister Alphy is transferred to the Pakartala community in Bihar where she was the Mother Superior earlier. Sister Ancitta has been transferred to the Pariyaram community, Kannur.

The nuns also wrote in the letter that they should be allowed to stay at Kuruvilangad convent and that they are being transferred in order to put pressure on them. 

However, the nuns had clarified that they are not ready to accept this transfer order. They said that the church is being vengeful against them. They also alleged that they are being transferred in order to weaken the case. The order was issued on January 3 and was handed over to the nuns on January 10.

Meanwhile, the church authorities said sister Lucy Kalappurakkal’s involvement on social media cannot be appreciated. The church stated that though several chances were given to her for correcting her mistakes, sister Lucy was not ready for it.

Regarding this complaint, she said to the media, “They are using me to cover up all the mistakes done by the priests. I know that I have not done anything wrong. There is patriarchy within the church. Only a few priests are celibate. Many people are blaming nuns while they are deliberately neglecting many things committed by the priests. Therefore, such things will not affect me. I can write, not one, but ten books. The church is denying all this. They are saying that a priest does not have to be celibate, while they find a problem in nuns wearing churidar,” said sister Lucy.

Lucy has been accused of publishing her collection of poems titled ‘Snehamazhakal’, getting a driving license, buying a Maruti Alto car, wearing churidar and publishing articles in several newspapers and journals, owned by non-Christians.

Lucy was also one of the main protestors leading the strike against the delay in arresting Franco Mulakkal. Her revelations had led to many discussions. Her support to the women's wall on January 1 has also sparked a controversy.