By Robancy A Helen
Chennai, April 2, 2019: The Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council has condemned the recent mob attacks on a school and nuns over a student’s suicide.
“We strongly condemn the attack based on the suicide of a 10th class student in the school premises after her exams,” Archbishop Antony Pappusamy of Madurai, president of Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council, said in a statement on March 30.
On March 26, more than 200 people came on a truck and rampaged Little Flower Higher Secondary School, Chinnasalem, in Kallakurichi district, some 260 km southwest of Chennai, capital of the southern Indian state.
The council’s statement said the school management, Pondicherry Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary, serve in the field of education with the full support of the people.
Archbishop Pappusamy said the way the mob beat and insulted the nuns and other staff was a punishable act.
He alleged the police did not come to help the school people as the mob attacked them, damaged classrooms and looted school property.
The incident has shaken the Christian minority institutions in Tamil Nadu, the archbishop said.
“We say the important aspect of government rule is democracy, but the law of the government is being violated badly,” the prelate said.
He also said similar incidents that are taking place in various parts of India, were unthinkable earlier.
The archbishop wants the government to take the necessary steps to protect minority institutions, especially during the election time.
“We are already forced to live a situation where fundamentalist forces sow political hate. We plead the government to take actions to stop such brutal attacks and protect the people,” he added.
The sole purpose of these Christian Minority Institutions is always to work for the welfare of people. These are run by priests and religious who serve the society selflessly. They have dedicated themselves totally in service of others while there are other institutions which have been commercialized in the name of service, the archbishop said.
The archbishop alleged the attacks on Christian minority institutions are carried out purposefully by some religious fundamentalists and fascists. They are “forces that work together to attack the nuns and priests, insult them and to destroy the property of these institutions.”
The girl, who committed suicide, had not left any suicide note. However, the 15-year-old had reportedly told her school friends that she had not done well in the final school examinations and she feared scolding from her parents.
The following morning, the girl’s relatives entered the school along with activists of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, national volunteers’ corps), the umbrella body for Hindu nationalist groups, and attacked the nuns and the staff.
Women in the group tried to strangulate the nuns with their chain and tried to disrobe them pulling their saris.
The mob also destroyed computer sets and school furniture. Four nuns and two school staff were admitted in the local government hospital. They are out of danger, the school authorities said.
C J Rajan, president of Samam Kudimakkal Iyakkam (Equal citizens’ movement), a city based non-governmental organisation, has conducted a fact-finding study on the incident. He said that police have to take stringent action against the mob that carried out the attack.
He also appealed to the Tamil Nadu chief minister to set up an inquiry commission, arrest those involved in the attack, and compensate the school for the damages.