Cardinal Cleemis rushes to meet violated nun

A 71-year old nun in the convent of Jesus and Mary was gang raped after alleged robbers broke into her residence Friday night.

Cardinal Baselios Cleemis

New Delhi:  Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, is rushing to Kolkata today to meet the nuns of the convent that was attacked last Friday night.

The cardinal along with Archbishop Thomas D'Souza of Kolkata and local officials will meet the sisters in the convent at Ranaghat, some 80 kilometers from Kolkata, said Father Joseph Chinnayan, deputy secretary general of the conference.

A 71-year old nun in the convent Jesus and Mary was raped after alleged robbers broke into her residence Friday night. The gang of six men also ransacked the offices of the school and convent and took away money in an apparent robbery attempt.

The elderly nun was injured in the violation and is now recapturing in a hospital.

"We want to express the solidarity of the Church in India with the sister who was violated in this inhuman and dastardly act," Father Chinnayan said.

The senior priest who will accompany the cardinal to Kolkata said the meeting with nuns and local officials will help find the facts more accurately.

Police said Monday that 10 men have been detained for questioning but no arrests have been made, even though the faces of four of the robbers were captured in the CCTV.

Cardinal Cleemis in an earlier statement said the physical violence inflicted on the nuns, including the rape, were "ruthless inhuman acts of which all Indian citizens should be ashamed of."