ASIA/INDIA - Catholic priest beaten in Madhya Pradesh: the Church writes to the Prime Minister

Khandwa (Agenzia Fides) – Another serious act of aggression has shaken the Catholic Church in India: Fr Sebastian Kaiparambil, a Catholic priest of 45 years, residing in Badwha in the Diocese of Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, was attacked, beaten and seriously injured in the night between 29 and 30 March. As reported to Fides by the local Church, the priest was asleep when, at 2.30 am, three people entered his room, beat him and fled, stealing some 50,000 rupees. Currently, the priest who is the parish priest at the church of St Mary and head of the attached School, is in hospital, to recover from his many wounds and bruises.
Police are investigating the case and so far have made no comment on the reasons for the attack, nor on the possibility of it being militant Hindu fundamentalist action. The local Bishop Sebastian Durairj condemned the violence, saying the priest “is a very active missionary with excellent relations among the people.”
After the incident, Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal, who chairs the Council of Bishops in Madhya Pradesh, sent a memorandum to the Prime Minister of the state, stating his alarm about the attack and also about the recent episode of the destruction the statues for the Stations of the Cross (see Fides 29/03/2011), asking for protection and security for Christians. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 30/3/2011)