By Matters Indian Reporter
Dindori, April 4, 2023: A Catholic bishop and a priest were denied anticipatory bail while another priest who was jailed earlier was released in separate cases related to alleged violations in managing schools and hostels in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
District and Sessions Court in Dindori, a predominantly tribal district, on March 31 rejected the anticipatory bail application of Bishop Gerald Almeida of Jabalpur and Father Jagan Raj.
The bishop and the priest were on March 22 charged with cheating, commission of a crime under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the provision of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act that deals with abuses, neglect among other issues.
Meanwhile, Father R B Dionysius, principal of St. Mary’s School, in Morena district under Gwalior diocese and in Madhya Pradesh, was released from jail on March 28 after a magisterial court granted him bail.
The priest was arrested and sent to judicial custody earlier in the day after being held on multiple charges, including disturbing the peace and using criminal force against a public servant on duty following a surprise inspection by a team led by Nivedita Sharma, a member of the state’s commission for the protection of child rights.
The team claimed to have seized liquor bottles and condoms from the residence of Father Dionysius within the school campus, but the priest was charged for disturbing peace among other charges.
The action against Bishop Almeida and Father Raj too came after a surprise inspection of a diocese-managed school and its hostel in Junwani village on March 3 by a team of the state Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
Bishop Almeida is the chairman of Jabalpur Diocesan Education Society that runs the school and Father Raj is its treasurer. They were booked in a separate case for cheating among other charges.
School principal Nam Singh Yadav, a layman, was arrested and sent to jail after he was accused of sexually abusing girls and still languishing in jail after his attempt to get bail was turned down.
A Catholic priest, a nun and another lay employee charged along with the principal, are in hiding and the police are on the lookout for them even after the students and their parents denied the allegation against them.
The students and parents have sought for an impartial probe into the alleged finding of the rights panel and the subsequent actions against the school officials.
Diocesan officials told Matters India on April 4 that charges against the prelate and the priests were “totally false” like in the case of the principal and others.
When they could not make any headway into the sexual abuse case, the bishop and priest were charged with obtaining grants from the government while charging fees from the students.
“Our school has both types of students – some get fees from the government and others do not – the officials mixed it up and framed the case to harass us,” a priest who did not want to be named, told Matters India.
In yet another case a lower court in adjoining district of Mandla turned down bail application of Father Siby Nirappel, hostel incharge of a Jabalpur diocese run hostel, in an alleged case of child labor and conversion.
Church official termed the charges against the priest as part of a conspiracy to defame the school.
Sharma and her team conducted another raid on the Gwalior diocese-run St. Peter’s School in Dabra district, on March 27 and accused the school of indulging in religious conversion, but no case was registered.
The team seized posters, banners, crucifixes, and religious objects used for the feast of Infant Jesus earlier.
Christian leaders say the surprise inspections, cases and arrests that take place only in Christian schools appeared to be part of a targeted move to tarnish the image of Christian schools serving the poor with quality education.
Christians form 0.29 percent of Madhya Pradesh’s more than 7.2 million population, with Hindus accounting for more than 80 percent.