Agencies
KOLKATA, MARCH 15
Eight persons were on Sunday detained in connection with the alleged gangrape of a 71-year-old nun in a convent school in Nadia district.
Nadia Superintendent of Police Arnab Ghosh said the interrogation of the eight persons was on and extensive searches were being conducted across the district.
The Sister Superior of Jesus and Mary’s Convent School, who is admitted to Ranaghat Hospital, is said to be stable now, hospital authorities said.The nun was allegedly raped and two other nuns were assaulted when a gang ofabout 12 armed men raided the Christian missionary school, in the early hours of Saturday. The gang is also alleged to have desecrated the school’s chapel. The elderly nun is reported to have sustained a knife injury also.
Though preliminary reports said the crime was committed by a gang of dacoits, topsources said “religious considerations” could not be ruled out. Sources said the school’s Sister Superior had sought police protection several times earlier following threats from anonymous callers. Congress leader P C Chacko condemned the alleged gangrape of a nun and the ransacking of a convent school in West Bengal and sought “extreme punishment” for the culprits.
“Extreme punishment should be awarded to the culprits. The governments (in the state and at the Centre) are not acting according to the gravity of the situation….Their lapses are more evident (in this case)…That is the mostunfortunate part of it,” he told reporters here.
According to sources, the gang first ransacked the school office before breaking into the convent. They reportedly tied up the three nuns and took the security guards into custody. Sources said when the 71-year-old nun tried to put up a fight and raise an alarm, one of the men allegedly raped her.
Another gang member reportedly targeted one of the younger nuns but spared her when she pleaded that she was suffering from acute asthma. The injured nuns have been admitted to health centres in Ranaghat.
While some reports said the nun had been gangraped, District Magistrate P B Selim told The Sunday Express: “There was no gangrape… one of the men is alleged to have raped one of the nuns.”
The raid did not end there. Arch Bishop of Kolkata Thomas D’Souza, who rushed to the Ranaghat school this morning, said the gang also “desecrated” the chapel. “They removed the holy bread from the ciborium and threw it on the ground. Dacoits would not normally do this,” he said. “It is up to the police to investigate and find out the motive… why a dacoit gang should raid the chapel and desecrate it,” he said.
Some areas of the school had CCTV cameras. Although the gang targeted the cameras on their way out, police recovered some footage based on which two men were identified. Both these men have been detained.
Sources said a police patrol team was on night duty about 200 metres away from the school. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has ordered a CID inquiry and assured that “swift, strong action will be taken”.
Blaming the police, the Bangiya Christiya Parishad (state forum of all Christian denominations, east and northeast partner of All India Christian Council) said: “Sister Superior had repeatedly asked for police protection. The incident is not merely a case of ordinary robbery but a part of some greater conspiracy.”
Significantly, Ranaghat — about 200 kilometres from Kolkata — has a large concentration of Bengali Christians, mostly converts from Hindusim. It has a fair number of missionary schools and churches. There are also pockets of BJP strongholds in and around Ranaghat.
The police are also looking into reports that the school authorities had sacked a security guard recently. A four-member CID team visited the site today.
There should not be any attempt to use such incidents to create tensions between communities by giving it a religious colour, cautions RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Sunday stongly condemned the alleged gangrape of a nun at a convent school in West Bengal and warned that such incidents should not be used to create tension between communities.
“This [rape] is against our tradition. All civilised societies condemn such incidents. But there should not be any attempt to use such incidents to create tensions between communities by giving it a religious colour,” RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi told a press conference here.
Mr. Joshi’s reaction came at the conclusion of the three-day brainstorming session of the ‘Akhil Bhartiya Pratinidhi Sabha’, the top decision and policymaking body of the RSS.
The 71-year-old nun was allegedly gangraped by dacoits at Gangnapur in the State’s Nadia district in the early hours on Sunday, following which a CID probe was ordered into the incident.
According to local authorities, the gang broke into the convent after midnight and around four of them raped the nun after gagging her. They also decamped with Rs. 12 lakh kept in the school almirah.
The West Bengal Commission for Women on Sunday said the police did not act even though the convent where a 70-year-old nun was gang-raped had been receiving threats from some quarters.
The nun was brutalised by a gang of bandits inside the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Ranaghat, some 80 km from Kolkata, early Saturday.
Commission chairperson Sunanda Mukherjee during the day visited the convent and met the survivor who is undergoing treatment at a hospital.
"In November last year a student of the school was suspended on disciplinary ground following which some of the teachers received threats which was reported to the sub divisional officer," said Mukherjee.
"A week back some miscreants entered the school and threatened one of the sisters saying 'I will kill you'. A police complaint in this regard was promptly lodged but no action was taken. There is no doubt about police inaction in this matter too," said Mukherjee.
She said the commission was looking into the matter and would recommend steps against police officers found guilty of dereliction of duty.
Strongly condemning the incident, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe the matter and promised "swift" and "strongest action" against the culprits.
While several people have been detained for questioning, the police are yet to arrest any of the culprits whose snapshots have been published.
The police have also announced a reward of Rs.1 lakh for providing information about the perpetrators.
Earlier in the day, Governor K. N. Tripathi promised action and urged the general public to help the police in nabbing the criminals.
"The state government will take strict action in this matter," Tripathi told the media. "The administration will surely apprehend the culprits and punish them. I feel people should also come forward to help nab the culprits," he said.
