Alappuzha: Sister Anupama, who was at the forefront of protests demanding the arrest of Franco Mulakkal, and other nuns were asked to leave the church premises on Thursday after the funeral of Father Kuriakose Kattuthara, a key witness who had testified against the rape accused Bishop.
Unruly scenes were witnessed after the funeral as the nuns were asked to leave the church compound when the media reportedly approached them.
Reacting to the ruckus, Sister Anupama said, "I don’t know why people are behaving like this. We will stand again for the truth. I am crying because I felt really sad.”
The brother of one of the nuns, who was also present at the funeral, said: “The ceremony had ended in St Mary church of Pallipuram and the nuns were saying their goodbyes. They were standing towards the end of the church when the media approached them to take to take their visuals and interview. The church committee members thought the nuns were going to give interviews and asked them to not do so inside the church. They were loud and rude. By then, others came out to support the nuns. The police, too, were called in.”
Father Kattuthara, who had testified against Mulakkal, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Dasuya near Jalandhar in northern Punjab three days ago. The postmortem was held at Jalandhar and body brought to Kerala on Wednesday.
Kattuthara's mysterious death comes days after Mulakkal, who was arrested and is presently out on bail, reached Jalandhar from Kerala.
Mulakkal, who was granted conditional bail on October 15, had received a rousing welcome from his followers and supporters when he returned to Jalandhar.
In her complaint to the Kottayam Police in June, the rape victim alleged that Mulakkal raped her at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014 and later sexually exploited her on several occasions. However, Mulakkal denied the charges as "baseless and concocted," insisting she levelled those as the Catholic order had rejected her demand for favours.
The nuns had taken to the streets against Mulakkal last month and protested outside the high court, demanding the arrest of the accused bishop.
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