Two nuns in India’s Mayurbhanj district were arrested on Saturday for allegedly making two non-Christian girls sing hymns in praise of Christ.
The arrests were made after complaints from the students of a Catholic residential school – Sarojini Murmu, 12, and Anjana Behera, 10.
The students reported that they were compelled to sing hymns and participate in prayers against their will.
The nuns were booked under Sections 323 (causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4 (forcibly attempting conversion) of the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act.
After the arrests, Fr Isaac of the Catholic Diocese in Balasore rushed to Mayurbhanhj in support of the nuns. He said the charges were "cooked up".
The issue came to light after the students ran away from the school hostel.
I wonder if we can get choir directors arrested for forcing us to sing hymns about ourselves?
5 comments
It might be worth trying…what can we lose except teeth-gritting music?
The scary thing is that if these nuns volunteered to help out with youth or children at my parish, the required criminal background check would turn up positive!
So… you can go to a Catholic boarding school and then complain because it’s Catholic? Oh, my!
Yes, clearly those clowns are arresting the wrong people. If they were here, they could turn their attention those who force the laity to sing the banal, vacuous hymns. They could really “gather them in”.
Maybe they got their story wrong. Maybe these were Catholic girls forced to sing some banal, gathery-type hymns and they just couldn’t stand it anymore.