Nuns attacked and injured in Maharasthra

Two nuns organising an AIDS awareness programme for the local tribals in Raigad district of Maharastra was attacked by a mob of 50 armed men and women.

Last week, Sr Merciana Tuscano and Sr Philomena D’Mello, three adivasi minor girls: Sangeetha Nayak (16), Lani Nayak (17) and Sonali Nayak (17) and the driver Bernard Martis, were brutally attacked by the followers of a Hindu leader on allegations that the nuns were converting the adivasis to Christianity.

According to reports, the incident took place when Sister Mercy’s Catholic group was preparing to conduct an empowerment programme for about 500 women from seven villages in Sanghoti village.

"The program preparations were halted when 20 men and 20 women in the morning began to throw aside the chairs and tables," Sister Tuscano recounted.

When she confronted the group, "the women caught hold of me, pulled my hair and punched me hard all over my body." She said she cried for help, but the group dragged her out of the venue.

The wounded group was rushed to a government hospital in Alibag.

Sister Floripe D'Silva, the nuns' Mumbai–based vice provincial, told UCA News that the nuns have conducted programs for the tribal women in the district for past 15 years and "this is the first time our nuns are attacked." The nuns conduct adult literacy classes, encourage women to start self–help groups and popularize the government AIDS program.

The police who were reluctant in apprehending the radicals only took action after Abraham Mathai, vice chairman of the Maharashtra state Minorities Commission, and Joseph Dias, general secretary of Mumbai–based Catholic Secular Forum met with the officials.

When the attackers accused the nuns of converting the local tribal people into Christianity, one of the nuns asserted, "It is a humbug charge. We have not converted a single tribal."

The tribal people who came to the rescue of the nuns testified that the Christians did not preach any religion but rather was training them to lead a decent life.