New Delhi: The Church has prevented a Malayali nun and senior advocate, Sister Jessy Kurian, from contesting the Supreme Court Bar Association elections. Sister Jessy, a native of Kannur and a member of the St. Ann of Providence congregation, was barred by the nuns' congregation in the Vatican.

This decision came just two days before the deadline for submitting nomination papers for the post of executive committee member of the bar association

Sister Jessy received a message from the Mother General of the Congregation headquarters in the Vatican, expressing disagreement with her decision to contest. Although canonical law does not prohibit participation in legal organizations, the Mother General opposed Sister Jessy's involvement. Consequently, Sister Jessy withdrew from the election on May 9.

At the same time, the nun said that the reason for the ban was unclear and suspected that the church might have misunderstood it was an election related to political parties.