Ranaghat: Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of Calcutta visited Jesus and Mary High School at Don Bosco Para Ranaghat in Nadia district where an elderly nun was raped and other nuns brutalized, within hours of the crime, March 14.
Scores of priests from several parishes and institutions in Nadia accompanied Archbishop D’Souza who met with the nuns. Later he also held a meeting with district administrative officials.
Archbishop listened to the incident from the Sisters, who also told him about their apprehensions regarding safety in the school. He then visited the chapel on the ground floor of the residential block that had been vandalized.
Apart from talking to school officials, the archbishop played a pivotal role in convincing the agitators who had blocked the neighboring Krishnagar-Sealdah railway line and Calcutta-Siliguri NH34 to withdraw, something the administration had failed to do for hours.
As news of the robbery and the brutality on the elderly nun spread, thousands of people, including schoolchildren and members of the Christian community, blocked the railway line and the highway.
The Nadia superintendent of police, the district magistrate, the sub-divisional officer of Ranaghat and the sub-divisional police officer had requested the protesters to disperse, but they didn’t.
On the archbishop’s instructions, school chaplain Fr Sarad, went to the spot and pacified the agitators.
Several agitators were invited to a meeting with the archbishop on a field adjoining the school. The protesters were asked to speak about their grievances in front of administrative officials and the archbishop.
Sources said it was only after assurances from the archbishop that the police would do their best to ensure the security of residents, many of whom are Christians, that the blockade was lifted.
The residents demand that their neighborhood be brought under the jurisdiction of Ranaghat police station instead of Gangnapur police station which is 14 km from Don Bosco Para while Ranaghat police station is barely 200 meters away. The Gangnapur police station area was carved out of the Ranaghat police station area a couple of years ago.
Rally
The Catholic archdiocese of Calcutta will organize a rally in Kolkata on Monday to condemn the brutalization of the nun. The rally will start at Allen Park at 4:30pm, Father Dominic Gomes, the vicar general of the archdiocese, said.