Asked about the assailants, Vishwakarma said: “According to the FIR lodged by the missionaries on Thursday evening, four attackers were recognised. However, they are still absconding. There were other people in the mob who could not be identified.”

The convent, as well as the Don Bosco school and hostel nearby, were provided armed police protection on Sunday evening after nuns and priests sent a written application to the police fearing danger to their life and property. While the convent houses 160 schoolgirls, mostly tribals, the school hostel has 165 tribal boys on its campus.

The incident took place on December 19 when a group of 20 Christian missionaries, including nuns, from Kwant, accompanied by school children of their hostels, visited Badiya, a neighbouring village, to enact a play to “educate tribals about their rights over water, land, forest, animals and their lives.”

According to the FIR filed by Monty Rodrigues, 52, head of Don Bosco School — he has been working with Gujarat tribals for over 25 years now — a group of activists attacked them alleging they were engaged in “conversion activity.” According to the FIR, they threatened them into abandoning the play, damaged their vehicles, beat up priests and tried to molest social workers and schoolgirls.

The FIR says that the assailants chased the group, bumped into one of their vehicles, which turned turtle, injuring several children. The attack also resulted in the amputation of four fingers of Ramesh’s right hand. Says Ramesh: “Bleeding and terrified, I had to run for several kilometres. I kept bleeding at the police station but they were not even ready to register our FIR for several hours.”

... contd.