By Matters India Reporter
Kochi: The Syro-Malabar Church on March 22 condemned what it alleged was a planned attempt to harass and abuse nuns travelling in trains on fake charges.
The Syro-Malabar Church “condemns strongly these violent acts on Christians who are the citizens of the country” and demands that the state and the federal governments to punish the culprits by taking severe punitive measures, says a press release from the Kerala-based Church’s Media Commission.
The March 22 press release narrated the ordeal of two Sacred Heart nuns and two girls aspiring to join the convent while traveling from Delhi to Rourkela in Odisha.
The nuns, in their tradition habit, and the girls in civilian dress were going to Odisha in eastern India on March 19 for Easter holidays.
“When they reached Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh) around 7:30 pm, some Bajrang Dal activists, who were returning from a pilgrimage, abused and harassed them and caused trouble,” narrated the press release issued by Father Jerry Joseph (Alex) Onampally, the commission secretary.
The Hindu radicals’ main allegation was that the nuns were taking the two postulants to convert to Christianity. “They did not accept the postulants’ words that they were born Christians,” Father Onampally said.
The nuns were taken into custody by the police after they arrived at the Jhansi railway station when the Bajrang Dal activists misinformed the police that the nuns were taking them to convert. Hundreds of Bajrang Dal activists created an atmosphere of terror by shouting slogans outside as nuns entered the police station.
The nuns were released around 11:30 pm after a high-ranking police official verified the matter. They were then transferred to the Jhansi Bishops’ House and the next day the sister’s provincial arrived from Delhi to facilitate the journey.
The four were accommodated in two seats in a coach for the disabled with the Railway Police Protection on March 21. They completed the 24-hour journey with great difficulty.
“It is suspected that there was a conspiracy behind the arrival of about 150 people at the station in a short period of time and behind the attack on the nuns,” the press release alleged.
It cited the nuns’ experience in Jhansi as the latest example of how the social conditions in India are becoming intolerant of other religions. “Tens of thousands of priests and sisters are engaged in selfless service in the northern states,” it noted.
The nuns’ congregation belongs to the Syro-Malabar Church, which is based in the southern Indian state of Kerala.
The nuns’ ordeal occurred as Kerala and four other states prepare to elect their state assembly elections. A major contender in the fray is the Bharatiya Janata Party, the political arm of Hindu radical groups, that now heads the federal coalition government.
The party is trying to increase its one-seat presence in Kerala’s 140-member legislative assembly. It has been courting various Christian denominations in Kerala, where the community accounts for nearly 19 percent of the vote share. Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, was among the Church leaders met by the BJP leaders in the past few months.