ASIA/INDIA - Suicide of a Hindu girl: extremists attack a Catholic school

Chinnasalem (Agenzia Fides) - A crowd of over 200 extremists attacked and devastated a Catholic school in Tamil Nadu, beating up the nuns present. The reason for the attack, which took place on March 26th, was the suicide of a 15-year-old Hindu girl, a student of the school. As reported to Agenzia Fides by Father Arputharaj, diocesan Secretary of the Archdiocese of Pondicherry-Cuddalore, a group of villagers and other militants arrived at 9 am on March 26 and attacked the Catholic secondary school of Little Flower High, in Chinnasalem, where the girl studied.
The young girl took her own life in her village of Kallakurichi, near Chinnasalem, on the afternoon of March 25th. The police was informed by her parents. It seems that the girl told her schoolmates that she feared she did not do well in her school exams and as a consequence her parents would get angry.
Angrily, the girl's parents and members of the "Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh" (RSS) extremist Hindu formation went to the school and attacked the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary who run the school in the archdiocese of Pondicherry-Cuddalore, insulting and beating them. Four sisters and two members of the school staff were admitted to hospital, says to Fides Sister Asir, the local Provincial of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The school is located near the police station, but so far no action has been taken by the police. A committee of lawyers and priests has been established to study the issue. It seems that the parents asked the sisters for money as "compensation" and then they contacted the RSS activists. Sister Asir asks the police to speed up the investigation. The local Church is ready to organize protests so that the attack does not go unpunished. (SD) (Agenzia Fides, 30/3/2019)

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human rights

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religious freedom

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violence

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religious minorities

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hinduism

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