Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala High Court Thursday dismissed Sister Lucy Kalappura's petition seeking police protection to continue to stay at Franciscan Clarist Convent at Karakkamala, Wayanad.

Sister Lucy Kalappura had protested against rape accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal.

The court also cleared that it couldn't direct her to go out of the convent.

The High Court directed the Munsiff court at Mananthavady to consider Sister Lucy Kalappura's plea regarding her right to stay in the convent within three weeks. She was expelled from Franciscan Clarist Congregation in 2019 following her protest against Franco Mulakkal.

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Lucy Kalappura was expelled on "disciplinary grounds" after she joined protests against rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal - has been ordered to vacate her convent.

A letter by the Superior General of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation in Kerala, which is part of the Catholic Church, claimed the eviction notice comes after Sister Lucy's petitions against her dismissal were rejected by legal forums within the Catholic Church.

In June 2018, a nun accused Mulakkal of rape, and a complaint was filed with the Kerala Police under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC, India). The nun in Kerala alleged that she was raped by Bishop Mulakkal 13 times between 2014 and 2016 during his visits to a convent in Kottayam district in Kerala.

He was formally charged in April 2019 with raping the nun nine times over a two-year period and faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.