The five Kerala nuns who came out protesting against rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal in Kochi last year, are back in the city. This time, they reached the Gandhi Statue near Kacheripady in Kochi, to ensure justice for the Walayar minor sisters, who were found dead under mysterious circumstances in 2017.
Like their protest to ensure Franco is brought to justice, Sister Anupama took the lead this time as well. “The culprits in Walayar sisters’ case should be brought before court and should be rightly punished,” she announced.
The nuns — Sister Anupama, Sister Josephine, Sister Alphy, Sister Ancitta and Sister Neena — were participating in the protest organised by Justice for Walayar Kids Forum at Kacheripady in Kochi. The protest will go on for two days and nights.
A 13-year-old girl and her 9-year-old sister, from a Dalit family at Walayar in Palakkad district, were found dead in their one-room house within a period of two months — January 13 and March 3 — in 2017. Their postmortem reports suggested they were sexually assaulted.
Though five persons, including a minor, were accused in the case, four of them were acquitted by a sessions court in Palakkad, primarily due to lack of evidence presented in court and the lapse in the police probe. This has stirred outrage in Kerala.
“At times, there will not be any evidence at all to prove the truth. And in other cases, where there is evidence, it will not have an iota of truth. That is what happened in Walayar case. The girls and women of Kerala should feel secure wherever they are. It is a matter of social justice,” Sister Anupama said at the event.
She also added that the deaths of the two sisters have shaken the consciousness of Kerala society. “The tragedy is unperceivable and will be marked as a symbol of the times we are living in. But let this incident be the last of its kind in the state,” she said expressing solidarity with the family of the sisters.
The five nuns, who came out in support of the Walayar sisters, were in the limelight after they supported the survivor who was abused by Bishop Franco Mulakkal multiple times. The sit-in protest of the nuns, which lasted for 14 days, had created a wave across the country, as it was the first time that nuns were coming out against the Church, questioning injustice.
With the nuns now registering their protest against the acquittal of four men in the Walayar sisters’ death and sexual assault case, the movement is likely to gain more momentum.
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