Nun gangrape: 8 held, police faces heat

Nuns stand next to the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Ranaghat, 70 km north of Kolkata, on Sunday. Prayers were said at churches across India on Sunday after an elderly nun was gangraped at the convent by robbers. The attack has intensified anger over sexual violence and fuelled fears among Christians.—AFP

The Christian missionary school at Ranaghat in Nadia, where a septuagenarian nun was gangraped by robbers, was reeling under threat for the last four months. But the district police allegedly remained silent. With this revelation coming to light on Sunday, the police, now under the scanner for its failure, detained eight suspects for questioning as governor Keshari Nath Tripathi condemned the attack.

In the morning, a delegation of the West Bengal Commission for Women led by its chairperson Sunanda Mukherjee visited the Convent of Jesus and Mary High School and spoke to its senior officials. Sisters and nuns were seen in tears while narrating the ordeal to them. Later, Ms Mukherjee said that the institute received threats twice.

She elaborated, “On November 13, a day before the Children’s Day, some miscreants threatened the school officials to kill them. The second threat came over phone seven days before the March 14 incident. The school authorities soon lodged a complaint with the police. But no action was taken. Had the police acted, the crime would not have happened. The police failed in its job.”

In Kolkata, the governor expressed his concern over the incident on the sidelines of a programme and said, “It is very sad. No one should insult any religion or the people engaged with any religious institute. I am confident that the state government will act strongly to catch the culprits.” During the day, superintendent of police (Nadia) Arnab Ghosh said that eight youth were detained following raids in Ranaghat and other places.

While grilling them extensively, the CID found that the face of one of the suspects partially resembles to that of one of the four accused seen in the CCTV footages, sources disclosed. The CID is not ruling out the possibility of an old grudge behind the incident. A high alert has been sounded by the police since Nadia is located at the India-Bangladesh border.

Forwarding the images of the accused to the Border Security Force, the CID sought assistance from the Central force to catch them. Meanwhile, school students took out rallies in and around Ranaghat to demand justice and oppose the political parties’ beeline. In the afternoon, when a BJP delegation went to visit the school, they were greeted with strong opposition by the school.