The Save Our Sisters (SOS), a group of organisations that spearheaded the protests against the rape-accused Jalandhar Bishop France Mulakkal has asked for Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's intervention to protect the protesting nuns, reports Indian Express.

“We call upon government to initiate immediate action to forestall the move to transfer them, from their present convent where the government is giving protection, till the trial is completed,” ANI had quoted the SOS in a letter saying.

The nuns from Missionaries of Jesus convent in Kuravilangad, Sr Alphy Pallasseril, Sr Anupama Kelamangalathuveliyil, Sr Josephine Villoonnickal, Sr Ancitta Urumbil, Sr Neena Rose had protested near the Kerala High Court premises demanding the arrest of Mulakkal, and were transferred.

The nuns have reportedly said in a letter to the Chief Minister that the victim and the group of protesting nuns faced the threat of being separated and removed away from the state.

Previously, four out of the five nuns, as well as the alleged rape-victim of Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar, had written separate letter to the CM, requesting that the transfer orders against them be stayed. The nuns claim that they face a threat from Mulakkal and the Church authorities backing him.

The repeated appeals by the victims of church rape cases has put the Kerala communist government in a spot, with critics contrasting the silence here to adventurous approach taken by the government in Sabarimala case.

Taking a jibe at the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, union minister Smriti Irani had said, “People who speak about women’s empowerment when it is politically convenient [a reference to Sabarimala case] but keep quiet when it’s not should be questioned. The Kerala government should be asked about the steps it has taken for the security of the four nuns.”