Brother Ramesh, 33, lies on a hospital bed in Vadodara, four fingers of his right hand amputated. This Catholic priest from Tamil Nadu was allegedly attacked by activists near Kwant, a tribal town in Vadodara six days ago, as reported by The Indian Express on December 21. His assailants are still absconding but the police have now registered an FIR under Section 37 of the Bombay Police Act against the injured priest for “unlawful assembly” in a village he had gone to enact a “public awareness” play.

Same is the plight of Sister Manjula Tuscano, a missionary in her late 20s, who was part of Ramesh’s group. She was allegedly beaten up, robbed and chased by the assailants. The police did not visit her after the incident but she is now an accused as well. The Kwant police have also registered an FIR against her, along with the 18 others, for “being part of an assembly of more than five persons,” thereby violating prohibitory orders clamped in the wake of elections.

The small convent of Dominican Sisters situated in this tiny tribal taluka town will not celebrate Christmas this year. “How can we celebrate? One Brother has his fingers chopped off, a Father was so badly beaten up that we thought he was dead, many children are yet to recover from their injuries,” said Tuscano, a social worker with the convent.

When contacted, the SP of Vadodara, Amit Vishwakarma, told The Indian Express today: “Police officials lodged the FIR since these missionaries had not taken permission from district authorities for assembling more than a group of five people. It is a bailable offence and further probe is yet to be done.”

... contd.