Sr Anupama, nun who led protest heckled, asked to leave Father Kuriakose’ls funeral

Mangalore Today News Network

Alappuzha, Oct 25, 2018 : Sister Anupama, who was at the forefront of protests demanding the arrest of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a nun, was on Thursday heckled and asked by some people to leave the cemetery where the funeral of a key witness in the rape case was going on.

 

Kuriakose Kattuthara, a priest who had also testified against Mulakkal, had been found dead under mysterious circumstances in Dasuya near Jalandhar in northern Punjab three days ago. The post-mortem was held at Jalandhar and body brought to Kerala on Wednesday.

At the funeral on Thursday evening, a section of the faithful protested Anupama’s presence and asked her to leave the cemetery at St Mary’s church in Pallipuram near here. Reacting to the incident, Anupama, who was accompanied by other nuns, broke down and said she was "deeply hurt" by the protests.

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," insistingshe levelled those as the Catholic order had rejected her demand for favours.