The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Women’s commission suggests age bar for nuns

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Wednesday, Jun 04, 2008
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Women’s commission suggests age bar for nuns

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala State Women’s Commission has asked the government to take appropriate legal measures to ensure that girls below 18 are not forcibly enrolled as nuns.

Commission chairperson D. Sreedevi and member P.K. Sainaba told a news conference here on Tuesday that the commission had asked the government to fix the age at which a girl could become a nun and create mechanisms for the rehabilitation of women who opt out of the vocation later in life. No girl should be compelled to become a nun, and there must be legislative provisions to ensure that the share of family wealth of the girls who became nuns remained in their name, they said.

The commission, they explained, was not interested in tampering with the matters of faith, but wanted the right of choice to be left to the girls themselves and protection be given to those who wished to give up the vocation.

Court verdicts

The commission had gone into the issue on the basis of a petition received by it. It also recommended that the government go by the verdicts of the Supreme Court and the High Court while determining the caste status of children of inter-caste couples.

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