Nuns in WB missionary school get threat letters

Days after an elderly nun was gang-raped and a chapel vandalised in West Bengal’s Nadia district, a Christian missionary school complained of receiving threats from anonymous quarters.

The school authorities lodged a complaint with the police at Jalpaiguri in north Bengal on March 22 after receiving threats.

Management of the St Capitaneo Higher Secondary School for Girls at Nagrakata near Jalpaiguri lodged the police complaint pointing out that they have received four letters, handwritten in Hindi, which threatened to burn down the school and a nearby church if the nuns running the school did not leave the area at the earliest.

The first of these letters, addressed to headmistress Sister Anita Joseph, was found on March 11.

Although the authorities initially took the letter as a prank, the nun’s rape at Nadia on March 14 made them give some seriousness to the issue.

While the police have lodged a case of criminal intimidation against unknown persons, sources said that the letters were found in the senior girls’ hostel, which is out of bounds for outsiders.

Senior police officials said the school has been put under round-the-clock vigil and some policemen have been stationed inside the school premises as an additional security measure.

Plainclothesmen have also been deployed outside the school to keep an eye on the situation.

Rise in attacks

With attacks on churches and Christian buildings showing a sudden rise in the last few months across the country, the district administration has taken serious note of the matter, officials said.

Superintendent of Police A Rabindranath and Nagrakata’s Inspector-in-Charge Anindya Bhattacharya, who visited the school on Tuesday, refused to divulge details of the complaint or security measures in place at the convent.