By Jose Kavi
New Delhi, October 24, 2019: A Catholic priest and a layman are now in judicial custody in Tripura in connection with the death of a church hosteler.
Father Lancy D’Souza and Bulchung Halam will remain in custody until October 30, says a press release from Father Roy Paul, assistant provincial of the Holy Cross congregation in North East India.
The October 21 press release says the two were arrested on October 15 after the mother of the boy, Happy Debbarma, blamed them for the ninth grader’s death.
Holy Cross Father D’Souza is the pastor of the St Paul’s Parish in Kumarghat, a town in Unakoti district of North Tripura, and Halam is the warden of St Paul’s Boys’ Hostel attached to the church.
Father Paul claims the two are innocent and sees the police action as part of a move to target the Church in the northeastern Indian state.
Tripura is now ruled by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party.
The latest developments “may be an attempt to disrupt the educational and social-economic services being rendered by the Church for the development of all sections of people, especially, the weaker sections in the state of Tripura,” the assistant provincial alleges.
The Church official says the “most painful part of the entire incident” was the unfortunate “loss a promising student.”
“We are in total solidarity with the bereaved family and share their anguish. We also pray for the soul of Happy Debbarma,” the press release says.
However, the assistant provincial says they are saddened by distortion of facts and ascription of false motives to “unwarranted developments.”
The press release narrates the incidents leading to the boy’s death and subsequent police action.
It claims the boy, who had kept poor health, died on October 6 when he was at home for Puja holidays.
Debbarma “was sickly by nature, often fell ill, and occasionally had swollen legs,” Father Paul explains.
The boy on September 27 left the hostel with his mother for holidays after the half yearly examinations. Before leaving, he had met Father D’Souza, the hostel in-charge. “No complaints or anything untoward, however, was reported by anyone,” Father Paul explains.
On October 4, Father D’Souza was told that Debbarma was admitted to a hospital in Agartala, the state capital, after undergoing treatment in local hospital during the Puja holidays.
Father Joe Paul, the educational secretary, visited the Agartala hospital on the same day and the doctors told him they were doing some tests and that there was nothing to worry. “They also said that it could be a case of anemia,” the press note says.
Debbarma had apparently told his mother that Halam had beaten him on September 25.
On October 5, Father D’Souza set up an inquiry committee to probe the allegation and issued a show cause notice to Halam.
The next evening, a relative of Debbarma called the hostel to inform that the boy died.
On October 7, Holy Cross Father Robert Mathias and four members of the Catholic Laity of Tripura visited the family in the hospital to express their condolences and prayers. A Holy Cross team visited Debbarma’s village to sympathize with the family.
“To our surprise, we were informed that an FIR is filed by the mother of Happy Debbarma alleging that warden Bulchung Halam and principal had caused the death of her son.”
On October 9, Holy Cross Educational Foundation president relieved Kumarghat principal Father Sahaya Lourdu Raj from his responsibility pending inquiries on the boy’s death.
The president then appointed Fatima Sister Amaly Gracy as the school in-charge.
Police officials visited the school on October 10 and 11 and spoke with Father D’Souza and other fathers present. The team seized the hard disc of the CCTV that was in the process of installation.
On October 12, Father Lancy D’Souza went for a medical checkup as planned earlier. The next morning a police team arrived at the center to meet him.
Not finding Father Lancy D’Souza, the police asked visiting Fathers Joe Paul and Alfred D’Souza to come to the police station where they forced to stay until October 14 morning.
The two were then taken to the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate where the police held them responsible for Father Lancy D’Souza’ absence. They also accused the two priests of tampering with the CCTV. The court remanded them to judicial custody for three days.
Hearing the news, Father Lancy D’Souza cut short his medical checkup to return to the center on October 15. He was asked to come the office of Superintendent of Police where he was arrested on charges of abetting murder and homicide.
A court remanded him to judicial custody for two days. On the same day, Halam was also arrested and remanded to judicial custody for two days.
On October 17, Fathers Joe Paul and Alfred D’Souza were granted bail.
Meanwhile the school conducted condolence meeting when it was reopened on October 21 after the Puja holidays. “Children were afraid to look at the picture of Happy Debbarma,” Sister Gracy, the school-in charge, told Matters India on October 24.
She also said the school now functions normally.