Hindu family tried to save priest, nun

Even as activists of right-wing Hindutva organisation Bajrang Dal are being accused of having raped and paraded naked a young nun, burnt down a church, tried to set on fire a priest and some Christians during the recent communal violence in Kandhama, a small fact, lost in the maze of claims and counter-claims, shows that in hate-torn Orissa not all voices of sanity and communal amity were lost.

For, it was a Hindu family, which risked its life to provide shelter to the nun and other members of the pastor. This, when armed Orissa Police personnel remained mute spectators to numerous atrocities.

Consider this: On the evening of August 24, when a heavily-armed 'Hindu' mob attacked the Divyajoti Pastoral Centre at Kandhamal, Father Thomas Chellen, director of the centre, along with three others fled to the nearby forest. The nun, who was allegedly raped the next day by one of the rioters, was also among those who managed to escape.

"We saw our house go up in flames. Around 8.30 pm, we came out of the forest and went to the house of a Hindu gentleman who gave us shelter," recalls the nun. Father Chellen also remembers the act. "We fled to the jungles and came in the night to take shelter in the house of a Hindu friend and spent the night there," Father Chellen said. The following morning, the Hindu family moved the priest and the nun to an adjacent vacant house and locked it to give the impression that no one was in.

However, trouble soon came in the form of the mob, which overheard Father Chellan speaking on his cell phone, seeking help to save the lives of the innocent. The mob broke open the door of the house and dragged both of them outside.

... contd.

ALSO READ

Pawar to seek special package for state

Railway bribery case: Nephew rose from obscurity, worked behind the scenes

For AMU students, wearing sherwani no issue

Polls today, Cong pins hope on BSY