Bokaro convent attacked, inmate raped

BOKARO, DECEMBER 3: On the night of December 1, a gang of more than a dozen armed assailants broke into the residential complex of St. Ann...

BOKARO, DECEMBER 3: On the night of December 1, a gang of more than a dozen armed assailants broke into the residential complex of St. Anna Girls High School in Karpania village in Bokaro, raped one inmate of the convent and assaulted eight other women.

They looted cash and valuables worth Rs 20,000 also. The convent belongs to the Roman Catholic church.

Principal Patras Merry and eight other female staff stay at the residential complex. Doctors at the Central Coalfields Ltd hospital confirmed that one of the women was raped. Two inmates of the convent, Snehalata, 55 and Prema Ekka, 22, are still in the hospital.

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Armed with revolvers and rods, the men in the age group of 20-25, terrorised the inmates for over an hour. After the police arrived in the morning, the Principal and others lodged an FIR at Ganchi Nagar police station, 80 km from Bokaro.

“The noise of footsteps jolted us out of sleep. After I got up and opened the door, two of them caught hold of me. When we protested, they beat up sisters Prema, Snehlata, Usha and Ursula,” Merry says in the FIR.

The assailants tried to rape three nuns and one of the youths pulled another inmate into a room and raped her, she says in the FIR. The raped woman, who works with the convent as a cook, said the assailant was drunk and spoke the local dialect.

“They have threatened to come again,” Merry told The Indian Express. The school has been closed.

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This school where nearly 2,000 girls belonging to the CCL workers study has witnessed two incidents of crime. In 1993, its principal Subhasini opted for transfer after a dacoity. In 1994, principal Jyoti Minztoo sought a transfer after a burglary. Merry says: “Even I would like to move elsewhere now.”

The police have deployed sniffer dogs and launched a manhunt but no arrest has been made. “We hope to arrest them soon,” says Bokaro SP K.S.Mina.

Bokaro unit Young Men’s Christian Association President C.H. Mathai hasasked Chief Minister Babulal Marandi to ensure security to the life and property of the school staff.