ICC Note:
Bishops in India have condemned the recent sexual assault on a nun in India’s Chhattisgarh state. The Bishops have also called on India’s government to provide greater protection to Christians and Christian institutions in India. Christian persecution in India has seen a dramatic escalation over the past year since the rise of the Hindu nationalist party BJP and their leader Prime Minister Modi. Will this assault be the moment when India finally changes and starts protecting its Christians?
6/23/2015 India (Two Circles) – The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India has condemned the sexual assault on a Catholic nun in a mission center in Raipur in Chhattisgarh and sought adequate security for Christians in social service.
The bishops are “deeply distressed to learn of the sad news” of the attack on a 47-year old nun belonging to the Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate, said Conference secretary general Bishop Albert D’Souza in a statement.
The nun, a qualified nurse, was in the Nursing Home together with two other girls. She was found early morning, gagged and tied to the bed after being brutally attacked and molested, the bishop’s statement said.
Reports quoting police said two masked men entered the nun’s room Friday night in search of cash and valuables and assaulted her after they failed to find their booty.
The nun lived with three aides at the infirmary and provided primary treatment to children and those who suffer minor injuries. The survivor was initially taken to Government Ambedkar Hospital attached to a Medical College, but was shifted to district hospital after media followed the survivor.
The statement said the CBCI “views these attacks on the nuns very seriously” and urges the federal and state governments “to act speedily to book the culprits involved in this heinous crime.”
It also wanted the government to “provide adequate security and protection to the Christian Missionaries whose selfless service to the poor has been widely acclaimed by the Indian public in general.”
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