Thiruvananthapuram, Oct. 29, 2018: The Women’s Commission of Kerala has filed a case against persons who reportedly heckled four nuns at a priest’s funeral.
Commission chairperson M C Josephine on October 29 sought an inquiry into the incident from Alappuzha district police chief and asked him to file a report.
The incident occurred on October 25, when four Missionaries of Jesus nuns came to St Mary’s Church, Pallipuram, a parish under the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese, to attend the funeral of Father Kuriakose Kattuthara, a missionary in Punjab.
The 62-year-old priest was found dead on October 22 in his room at Dasuya near Jalandhar, Punjab, under mysterious circumstances. Father Kuriakose Kattuthara was a key witness who had testified against Bishop Franco Mulakkal who was accused of raping a Missionaries of Jesus nun.
The four nuns had in September staged a sit-in at Kochi to demand Bishop Mulakkal’s arrest.
Father Kattuthara’s death came days after Bishop Mulakkal, who was arrested and out on bail, reached Jalandhar from Kerala.
After the priest’s funeral, some parishioners, led by one of its trustees, heckled the nuns, especially their leader Sister Anupama, native of the Pallipuram parish. The nuns were seen coming out of the church premises crying.
The commission registered the case based on media reports that the nuns were heckled and humiliated by the parishioners.