71-year old Nun Raped in Church, None Arrested So Far

NEW DELHI: Three days after the horrible rape of a 71- year old nun in Ranaghat in Nadia district, some 80 km away from Kolkata, no arrests have been made by the police.

However, so far, eight men have been detained and interrogated on the basis of the CCTV grab of the assailants and it has been reported that one of the detainees resemble one of the men captured on CCTV.

Sister Superior, the prime victim of the attack, seems stable now after sustaining knife injuries inflicted by the perpetrators. She had to go under surgery after the rape and reported to have put up a brave front against the men before being overpowered.

The incident happened in the early hours of Saturday, and is reported to have lasted for some three hours, from 1:30 am to 5:00 am. The attackers, allegedly first robbed the school Principal’s office of 8-10 lakh rs, a mobile phone and a laptop, then went on an extended desecration rampage at the school’s church. According to reports, one of the younger nuns had been let go of only when she pleaded that she has a case of acute asthma. Its then one of the men raped the septuagenarian.The men had also first gagged the security guards.

Arch Bishop of Kolkata, Thomas D’Souza, who had rushed to the site following the news of the attacks, in an interview to Indian Express, recounted what constituted the desecration process. “They removed the holy bread from ciborium and threw it on the ground. Dacoits would not normally do that,” he said, hinting at the religious acrimony which the minorities have been facing at the hand of Hindu fundamentalists associations of late.

“It is up to the police to investigate and find out the motive… why a dacoit gang should raid the chapel and desecrate it,” he further added.

Speaking to the same source, Bangiya Christiya Parishad (state forum of all Christian denominations, east and north east partners of All India Christian Associations), also condemned the police apathy for not taking an action in time when Sister Superior asked for help before. “Sister Superior had repeatedly asked for police protection. The incident is not merely a case of ordinary robbery but a part of some greater conspiracy,” he said, echoing the same concern as D’Souza’s .

The Christian leaders announced a candle march to express solidarity to the nun , and have refused to consider it an one off incident, but an ‘act of faith’ on the part of the powerful Hindu Brigades.

“Even if you call it an isolated incident, the background and the atmosphere for such an attack had already been there, so you cannot simply ignore it as a one-off incident,” Father Savarimuthu Sankar, a spokesman for the Delhi diocese, told AFP .

The recent re-conversion of christians and Muslims back to the Hindu fold, known as ‘Ghar-waapsi’, and a spate of attacks on churches at many paces in the nation’s capital and many other place, don’t give much reason to think of any other motive to the victims either.

Earlier Mohan Bhagwat, RSS chief, had kicked up a storm by saying that Mother Teresa’s main motive was to convert Hindus to Christianity.