Nuns unite to protest lax attitude of Church on sexual harassment cases

The Church nowadays is surrounded by dirty unholy controversies like land scams, sex scandals and a baby selling racket. Recently, the Supreme Court also expressed concerns over the rising number of rape cases involving priests from the churches of Kerala. The SC bench comprising of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said, “What is happening in Kerala, priests are becoming accused in rape cases.” In the recent times it has emerged that the churches are not just involved in illicit crimes but also trying their level best to bury those crimes. Such an attitude of the Church forced the nun rape victims to come out on street for justice. In Kerala, nuns have launched protests against the Bishop Franco Mulakkal, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar. A 44-year-old nun accused the bishop Franco Mulakkal of raping her 13 times from 2014 onwards. Earlier, the Church also tried to buy the silence of a nun who had filed a police complaint against Franco Mulakkal.

For more details: Church attempts to bribe a nun who had filed a rape case against the bishop

One of the nuns who participated in the protest, Sister Anupama, said, “We have been knocking on the doors of the church and the government. There is nobody to help us in our cause.” She further added, “The bishop has political clout in Kerala as well as Punjab. He is using money to influence everyone.” The protest was organized by the Joint Christian Council. The nuns protested with placards which read “who is protecting Franco”, “we need justice”, “our life is in danger”.

George Joseph, working president of the Joint Christian Council, said, “The complainant nun needs justice from the government. Bishop Mulakkal should be arrested. Once he is arrested, the church would be forced to take action against him. Hence, it is the government that should act first.” He also said that their protest was against the state government and the police.

The police maintained that they don’t have the “required evidence that could lead to the arrest of the bishop”. Kottayam SP Hari Sankar said, “We have got some details from the statement of the nun and police are examining this.” He also informed that last week, the police have gone through all the evidences. He even claimed that no other nun has given a statement accusing the bishop.

Stoic silence maintained by pseudo-secular media is the most appalling thing about this entire incident. None of the Bollywood actress came up with any placard in solidarity with the nuns. Following tweet of Subramanian Swamy sums up the hypocrisy of the cabal:

Instead of support, the nun is getting is abuses. An Independent MLA from Kerala PC George questioned the character of the nun and called her prostitute.

Still no outrage has been carried out against PC George for his derogatory remarks against a rape survivor. It shows that the cabal has never been serious about the rape cases. Their outrage was always against a community and a religion. They have no sympathy for the victim. The communist government of the state has also failed to ensure justice to the nun. The communist government which is in power in Kerala has failed to hinder the expansion of churches and radical Islamic groups in the state. Brutal killings of RSS workers combined with chilling stories of sexual misconducts from the quarters of the church need to be stopped immediately. The Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala should take due notice of these instances and should take steps to ensure accountability of the church so that these instances can be stopped.