Orthodox school faces harassment in Bhilai

Church leaders see the case as part of an ongoing anti-Christian campaign.

Raipur:  Officials of a Christian school in Chhattisgarh say Hindu right wing groups continue to harass them after a sweeper of the school allegedly molested a minor girl.

Police began investigation on Feb. 25 soon after a four-year-old girl of the Mar Gregorios Memorial Senior Secondary School in Bhilai was allegedly molested.

“The school management had handed over the accused person to police on the same day when it got a complaint from the parents of the girl," says Father Joshi Varghese, spokesperson of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, which began the school 50 years ago.

Despite the quick action of the school, the police arrested two lady teachers of the kindergarten section and charged them under the stringent law--Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) 2012.

The two teachers are in jail. But members of some Hindu groups began protesting before the school on the same day. “An impression has been created in the public that the teachers have connived in the crime of molesting the child”, he told ucanews.com on Friday.

Father Varghese said the police are now trying to arrest the principal and secretary of the school and “we fear they also may be booked under stringent law like other teachers for no fault of theirs.”

The investigation officer, Monika Pandey, confirmed that the priest-principal also has also been charged under POSCO but refused to elaborate any further.

District parents teaches association general secretary advocate Anil Jaiswal said the “artificial case” is “an attempt to defame the school, which is serving the people of area since 50-years without any blemish.”

Father Varghese also alleged that police men in plain cloth took the manager’s brother of Sajan Thomas into illegal custody there “is no whereabouts of him.”

The police action on the BJP-ruled state, along with Hindu groups’ protest “creates an atmosphere of fear. We are also going to seek the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to protect our right as a minority community.

He and other Church leaders said the case is part of the ongoing anti-Christian campaign in the country.

Meanwhile, the effort of the Church officials to take an anticipatory bail for the priest and the secretary from a lower court failed.

Father Varghese said they are now plan to move the High Court to bail out the women teachers and for the anticipatory bail of the principal and manager.