By Matters India Reporter
Ujjain: Indian bishops have condemned the attack on a Catholic hospital in Ujjain, an ancient city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
A four-member team representing the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) visited Pushpa Mission Hospital on March 15 for an on-spot study of the attack that took place three days earlier.
“The incident in Ujjain has the tarnished the image of the state of Madhya Pradesh and of India,” the bishops’ team said in a press statement. They expressed deep pain, anguish, and concern over what they termed as unfortunate violent acts against the healthcare institution.
The team comprised Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal, chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Regional Bishops’ Council, Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, CBCI Secretary General, Bishops Chacko Thottumarickal of Indore, and Sebastian Vadakel of Ujjain.
The team noted that on March 12, the hospital came under “a dastardly and inhuman attack by goondas and anti-social elements enjoying political and financial clout.”
The 200-bed hospital, managed by the Diocese of Ujjain, has rendered round the clock, quality medical services to people in the city and surrounding rural areas for the past 44 years.
Most patients come from the deprived, marginalized and poor sections of society who would not be able to afford health care without this hospital. Thousands of patients visit the hospital daily and are ministered to without distinction of class, creed or religion, the bishops’ team noted.
The mob of some 60 armed men forcibly entered the hospital compound, destroying its boundary wall with the help of two earth movers.
The mob have blocked access to the hospital’s emergency department and generators, power and water supply apparatus and dug trenches, thus placing at great risk the life and safety of innocent and helpless patients.
The bishops also alleged that mob assaulted women staff members and nuns and used abusive language against them.
The police did not appear on the scene with the ostensible reason that they were busy with the visit of the Governor of Madhya Pradesh to Ujjain, the Church team said.
Ujjain diocese and the hospital have made written complaints to the police and approached the government authorities for protection against such atrocities and bullying but the inaction of the administration is worrisome and disturbing, they added.
The Catholic Church has since 1961 unchallenged ownership of the land on which the hospital is built. Forces aided by powerful political powers have demanded ownership of the land. The ownership of a part of the land has been challenged and the matter is sub judice awaiting judgment.
However, some “anti-social and anti-national elements” have been creating disturbances in the area. The incidents of March 12 follow earlier attacks on the hospital on three consecutive days since January 27 when rowdy people appeared outside the hospital, shouting, misbehaving and disturbing the hospital. They also prevented ambulances from carrying critically ill patients from entering the hospital premises.
The attack on the hospital is the third mob violence against Catholic institutions in the past three months.
In December 2017, mobs targeted Catholic priests and seminarians in Satna for carol singing. Hindu extemists targeted St Mary’s College in Vidisha in January demanding forcible worship of the Mother India goddess (Bharat Mata).
Catholics are a tiny minority in the state. The Ujjain diocese serves mostly Hindus in the fields of education and healthcare and social welfare in remote areas.
“Inaction from the police and government authorities does not augur well for the good reputation of India that boasts of being the largest democracy in the world,” the bishops’ team warns.
They urged the state and federal governments to arrest the culprits and ensure that the rule of law prevails in the state.
Neither the state nor the federal government can afford to allow mobs to take the law into their own hands. “The use of political muscle and arrogant display of violent might is nothing but goondaism, terrorism and anti-nationalism,” bishops said.
“We condemn the acts of violence, terror, intimidation and forceful trespass, as these actions pose a threat to the well being and future of our beloved nation. We pray that good sense may prevail and that all of us may continue to live freely and without fear in our country according to the law, regardless of our religion, region, language or any other such factor,” bishops said.