Kerala police have recovered the dead body of a nun from a well in Mount Tabor Dayara Convent in Pathanapuram of Kollam. The deceased nun has been identified as Susan (55). Susan used to teach at the St Stephens School in Pathanapuram, around 80 km from Thiruvananthapuram. According to police, Mount Tabor Dayara Convent staff had first seen blood stains near the well and then found the nun’s body floating inside it. The staff then contacted the police and informed about the incident which took place around 9 am.
Police said that Susan had been teaching at the school for the last 12 years. Both the school and the Convent are run by the Kottayam-headquartered Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church. It added that they have recovered the nun’s body and sent it for postmortem. Police said that the cause of the death is not known and a probe is underway.
Congress leader Bindu Krishna termed the death shocking. “Blood stains were found inside her room and her hair was also found cut, according to reports,” she claimed. An impartial probe is essential, she said.
The news comes a day after members of various Catholic reformation organisations took to the streets to protest the alleged laxity in the probe into a complaint of rape filed by a nun against a Roman Catholic church bishop. Five nuns from a convent in Kottayam, to which the victim belonged, also took part in the demonstration and alleged that she had been denied justice by the church, police and the government as no action has been initiated against the accused, Bishop Franco Mulakkal of the Jalandhar diocese.
“We are fighting for our sister. She has been denied justice by the Church, government and the police. We are ready to go to any extent for ensuring justice to our sister,” a nun told protesters, who held placards demanding arrest of Bishop Franco.
In her complaint filed at Kuravilangad police station, the victim had alleged that she had received death threats from unknown people two months ago. The nun has accused Jalandhar Bishop Franco of raping and
having unnatural sex with her multiple times between 2014 and 2016.
