‘I am being starved by the church’, says expelled Kerala nun

Sister Lucy Kalapura, who was expelled from the Catholic Church, said on Saturday she was being starved at the convent as authorities have been depriving her of food to force her out.

The Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC) had expelled Sister Lucy Kalapura in August last year citing “serious indiscipline” but the nun said she was victimised for supporting the agitation for the arrest of the deposed bishop of Jalandhar, Franco Mullakkal, who is facing rape charges.

The 52-year-old nun accused the authorities of locking food but she said she will remain at FCC’s convent even if she was starved to death.

“I have filed three complaints against the convent authorities but police failed to take action in any of them. It seems the police are scared to take action against authorities who trouble me,” she said.

Sister Kalapura said her harassment increased after her controversial autobiography was released in December last year.

She said she had filed another petition to the Vatican questioning her expulsion and that she expected a favourable reply from the supreme head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis.

“If the police take some action, my tormentors will be prevailed. But they haven’t taken any action fuelling more harassment. Despite all the troubles, I will not leave the convent,” she said adding she will move the court soon.

A local court in Wayanad in December last year had stayed the FCC action against her.

When contacted, a spokesperson of the FCC refused to comment on the issue.

Protesting against Mullakkal

Sister Kalapura was among the many nuns who staged a sit-in protest in Kochi after police failed to arrest Mullakkal who was accused of rape by one of their colleagues.

In June 2018, a 43-year-old nun filed a police complaint alleging that Mullakkal had sexually assaulted her after summoning her on the pretext of discussing an important issue in 2014 and that the assaults continued for two more years.

Later, a special investigation team was formed and it arrested Mullakal in September last year after several rounds of questioning.

Her bare-all autobiography, ‘Karthavinte Namathil’ (In the name of Christ), has ruffled many feathers in the church. The nun has alleged in her autobiography that sexual abuse and assaults take place in convents and seminaries and called for institutional reforms.

She has also alleged in the book that she faced sexual assault attempts at least four times during her convent life and many nuns easily succumb to such intimidations. She claimed that some young nuns were subjected to cruel sexual perversions at a priest’s official residence.

The nun also alleged that Father Robin Vadakumcherry, who is undergoing double-life term for impregnating a minor girl in Kottiyoor in Kannur, had illicit relation with many nuns.