By Voice of Nuns

Kochi, Feb 18, 2024: The community (of Congregation of the Mother of Carmel) in Chhattisgarh’s Ambikapur town is deeply saddened by the recent suicide of a sixth-grade student at Carmel School. Heartfelt condolences are extended to the student’s family, friends, and teachers during this difficult time.

At the same time concerns have been raised regarding the denial of bail for the second time to the accused nun. Critics argue that despite no strong evidence against the accused the learned court rejected the bail petition of the accused without citing any plausible reasons. This has raised many eyebrows in the pursuit of justice in this sensitive case. It is travesty of justice to deny bail to the accused and to count her among the other hardcore criminals in the jail.

Carmel School is located in Ambikapur, the capital of Sarguja district, in the state of Chhattisgarh. Sister Mercy, one of the assistant teachers, has been teaching in the school for the last two years. She is incarcerated following the suicide of one of the class VI students, based on an alleged suicide note she wrote before her death.

The Fateful Day

On February 6 as Sister Mercy Jose, after finishing her class, was going to the class room, she was informed by a child that three elderly students were in one washroom, reserved for the lower primary students. Sister Mercy went to the toilet block and waited outside. After a while when the students came out one by one, she enquired what they were doing.

They gave the excuse that one of them had dirtied her dress and went into the washroom to clean it. Since she did not know anyone of them, she asked them to submit the id cards, which they wilfully did and went to their respective class rooms. The Sister submitted the id cards in the school office. While the children went to their classrooms and took the bags and went out to catch the school bus without an iota of tension or fear on their face. It is clear from the CCTV footage.

At around 10:15 pm the class teacher was informed by the father of the diseased that her student committed suicide. He was away from home. The class teacher, in turn, informed the principal at 10:20 pm. Immediately, one of the teachers, a resident of the locality, was asked to go to the spot and to see what support the school could provide for the family.

After having verified the incident, a call was also made to the father of the deceased by the principal at about 11 pm. In her conversation with the father, the father gave names of five students of the same school, stating that they would know the truth behind his daughter’s death and requested her to question them. None of those names were of those friends who were caught with the deceased in the washroom. The father had neither said anything about the suicide note nor showed any animosity towards the institution. The school administration was also shocked, as the deceased girl was one of the bright students in the class.

The alleged suicide note read as follows:

Today my ID Card and also two friends got snatched by Sister Mercy of my school. My friends told me that she is damn dangerous. She take you to Head mistress and also call your parents. I was damn scared and decided to kill myself. The reason for my death is Sister Mercy and also I wanna know that does Arush loves me back or not. b/w my death doesn’t matter just chill, Okey. And I want to take revenge from sister Mercy, she don’t deserve to be alive. Okey that’s it Bye … (Signature & date)

Then Continues..

And also please save my friends from getting punishment.

And I love you Mamma and Pappa and Arush and my friends and my cousins. Thank you everyone who try their best to make me happy. And please don’t do PM of my freaking body. And please invite all my friends and Arush at my funeral.

and also my mother is not responsible for my death. *
(*What is written above in super script is what is added above the normal lines in the alleged suicide note.)

An FIR was registered by the police after taking into custody of the alleged suicide note.

In the FIR, the girl’s mother said that after returning from school, her daughter was not feeling well, and after giving her the medicine sent her to rest in the bedroom. and her daughter closed the doors from inside. It is said that when she did not come out of her bedroom after so many hours, they banged on the doors and when they did not get any response. Then they looked through the Puja room’s window and saw her body hanging. Then they kicked the door open.

(It is odd that the student was living with her mother, father, and grandfather, states clearly that the mother “has no role in the suicide.”) This seems to be something fishy.

The police have seized a copy of the student from the school to ascertain the authenticity of the suicide note.

The FIR states that the death occurred on February 6 at around 9:30 pm., but the police received the information at 2:10 p.m. on February 7. It is evident that the police arrived at the location on the 7 afternoon. The photo of the student hanging and the alleged suicide note were widely circulated through social media, even before the police could arrive at the crime scene.

This led to an angry mob to gather around the school premises. Along with the crowd, the involvement of some communal organizations aggravated the campaign against the school and the life of Sister Mercy was under threat and they wanted to burn her alive leading to a riot-like situation.

As soon as the police registered an FIR, Sister Mercy was taken into custody. Due to threats from Hindutva organizations, the offline classes were suspended for a week, but the administration managed to have some online classes and the same was informed to the local authorities. Pursuant to IPC 305 (abetment to suicide of a minor), Sister Mercy was arrested and placed under remand.

The court denied her bail for the second time, even though there was no other evidence against the sister except the childish accusation in the child’s suicide note. Sister Mercy, the accused, was not the deceased child’s teacher nor even a close acquaintance of her.

A few unanswered questions that reasons cannot comprehend are as follows:

👉Will a child of class six have the knowledge of postmortem of her body if she commits suicide?
👉What made her to state clearly that her mother was not responsible for her death?
👉What prevented the mother, the father of the grandfather who is a practicing lawyer to report the same to the police as soon as they came to know about it?
👉Why was there a glaring delay in informing the police since the deceased’s grandfather an advocate?
👉It is but natural in a case, when someone sees a person hanging in the house, to bring the body down and rush to the hospital, hoping against hope that the person is not dead and there could be something that could be done to save the child. But why was the body not taken down and rushed to the hospital?
👉Why was it that none of the family members filed any complaint to the police?
👉Does asking for id card to ascertain the identity of the child amount to abetment to suicide?

Dramatic Scenes

The intervention of the grandfather of the deceased child, who is also the lawyer, is clear in this case. No lawyer was ready to plead the case for the accused nun in the beginning. In a matter of days, the police officer who made sure security for the school was transferred. In the Sessions Court argument for bail was over by about 1:45 pm but the pronouncement of the order was postponed till about midnight.

Thus, attempts to muddy the waters, postpone the inquiry, and tamper with the case were consistently apparent. An upheaval resulted from the accompanying political meddling and deceptive propaganda. The situation developed into a communal riot like.

It is very clear to everyone including to the courts, and the police, that Sister Mercy did nothing wrong. However, there was a lot of political and social pressure from the right wing, and people who needed to stand up seemed have succumbed to the pressure tactics. False propaganda was spread widely to disparage the admirable Catholic convent-run school.

The public was misinformed about the incident, and attempts were made to incite riots by playing on their emotions by fabricating a smokescreen about it. Even though everything is evident, a week later, an innocent teacher is still in jail. Political pressure is allegedly exerted heavily to keep Sister Mercy from being granted bail. The police’s protest in grinding bail for Sister was documented in the bail order.

An eerie feeling enveloping the institution is palpable. The reason for this is that, despite everyone’s common sense telling them there was nothing wrong with them, there was an attempt to incite a riot by disseminating false propaganda. They worry that an unpredictably bad outcome would result if something similar occurs again.

There have been numerous judgments, including those from the Supreme Court and several High Courts, categorically stating that teachers are given the responsibility of mentoring the students and that their concerns are legitimate. If a teacher is found guilty simply for looking into the matter and obtaining ID cards in such a circumstance, and for that, they become the target of public indignation then tomorrow anyone commits any deviant behaviour or unaccepted way of pupilship then what could the teachers do?

Christian institutions and followers are put through communalist-led mob trials, which warrants serious consideration. In response to attempts to intimidate those who are selflessly serving, the administration, the legal system, and all people of good conscience must speak out against the violence and protect those who are targeted.

(Voice of Nuns is a joint venture of Kerala Conference of Major Superiors (KCMS) and Kerala Catholic Bishops Council’s (KCBC) Vigilance Commission.)