action against "Hindu Extremists" who it says have launched a series of attacks against Catholics across the nation, including nuns and children, BosNewsLife monitored Saturday, July 9.
In a statement obtained by the Christian news agency Compass Direct, the CBCI demanded an official inquiry and the arrest of those responsible for the violence last month which rocked several Indian states.
Most recently, 10 young men attacked a group of nuns at the Chetanalaya Center in Rajgir township, in the eastern state of Bihar, on June 21. Youths, armed with guns and other weapons, reportedly broke into the facility late at night. Sister Rose Plathottam, director of the center, said she was "sleeping on the terrace along with 11 handicapped girls, who had stayed back during vacation."
"Seeing nobody downstairs, the [youths] ransacked the convent … to get hold of the keys to the rooms. Later they came up to the terrace, threatened me with a gun and dragged me to the ground floor," Rose added.
TAKING CASH
The youths took cash and a mobile phone from Rose, and covered the girls’ faces with blankets, church sources said. They then allegedly ransacked the center, fleeing with valuables that included an emergency lamp and 18,000 rupees ($240), which had been set aside to buy medication for the dispensary.
Two weeks earlier, on June 9, a group of 15 men broke into the convent of Notre Dame in Raxaul, a small town in Bihar’s Champaran district, Compass Direct reported.
They allegedly broke open the gate and doors just before midnight and demanded money from an elderly nun, Sister Manjula. The men also reportedly attacked and beat Manjula, breaking one of her ribs and causing a serious head injury. Another nun suffered minor injuries, BosNewsLife learned.
CONVENT ATTACKED
On the same night, militants attacked another convent operated by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Sokho village, Nawada district, in the southeast of Bihar, several news reports said. Two more attacks apparently took place in Rajasthan in the north and Madhya Pradesh in central India.
On June 12, three men broke into the Maria Sadan center, run by the Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Grace, in Bhivadi village near Ajmer in Rajasthan, said South Asia Religious News.
The men assaulted two nuns and a maid with a knife, tied them to a bed in the dormitory, and fled with 9,000 rupees ($215), several news reports said. They also tried to abduct an 18-year-old girl who worked as a cook in the center, but the nuns protected her by saying she was married with two children, Compass Direct reported.
HOLY TRINITY
Also on June 12, a number of young men entered the Holy Trinity Church in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, and threw rotten eggs and colored water against a statue of the infant Jesus, the news agency added.
Youths had previously attacked the same church on June 5. About 2,000 parishioners from the diocese of Jabalpur met on June 14-15 to pray that God would bring about a "change of heart in those who desecrated the holy shrine," according to AsiaNews, another Catholic news agency on the Internet.
Earlier in the year, Father Mathew Uzhuthal, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Patna, Bihar, was stabbed for refusing to pay extortion money to a local criminal. He was injured on April 11 and died of his wounds on May 1.
BISHOPS THREATENED
Thomas Thiruthalil, Bishop of Balasore in the eastern state of Orissa, and Joseph Powathil, an archbishop in the southern state of Kerala, have also reported threats and acts of physical violence against parish members in recent weeks, Compass Direct said.
Father Babu Joseph, spokesperson for the CBCI said the bishops were "seriously concerned about the recent spurt in violence against the Christian community and its institutions in some parts of the country."
"We take strong exception to such lawlessness and anti-social activity," Compass Direct qouted him as saying. "We ask the respective state governments to take immediate and effective action against criminal elements that play havoc with the lives of people, particularly the religious women who render meritorious service to humanity."
Catholics comprised 1.54 percent, or 16.7 million, of India’s 2001 population of 1.2 billion, according to the country’s census. The population has since topped 1.3 billion. (With Compass Direct, BosNewsLife News Center and reports from India)
