Bengal gang rape: Bishops demand visible, fast action from Mamata

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India on Wednesday demanded "visible" action and requested West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to hasten arrests of those who gang raped a 71-year-old nun in West Bengal's Nadia district.

The nun was brutalised by a gang of bandits inside the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Ranaghat, some 80 km from Kolkata on Saturday. Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, who heads the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, visited Ranaghat to meet the brutalised nun.

"I would like to request the authorities to ensure that justice is done. The sisters have forgiven but justice needs to be made visible and such acts should not continue. We are here to also personally verify what has happened. These same sentiments I will transmit to the chief minister and request her to act fast. Such inhuman act should be stopped," Cleemis told media in Ranaghat.

"I will talk to her (chief minister) on behalf of the Church of India. What I have understood is that the process has begun to find out the culprits but we would like to request the chief minister to make a fast approach and to see that justice is done at the earliest," Cleemis said.

Iterating the Catholic Church's commitment "with more fervour", Cleemis asserted "we are not stopped by such events and such violations".

He also thanked the public in Ranaghat and "the public of the entire country who are showing their sympathy and their sentiments of togetherness at this point of time".

"We prayed together and we prayed for everyone. She has forgiven (the culprits) and prays for them. We have forgiven but justice has to be brought to the people," Cleemis averred.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, has expressed concern over the Ranaghat gang rape as well as the vandalisation of a church in Haryana, and sought a report on these incidents.

While the police have detained 10 people, their failure to arrests the culprits yet has created a furore among Ranaghat locals, who on Monday blocked the convoy of Banerjee.

She had gone there to meet the survivor, now admitted to a hospital. West Bengal Human Rights Commission has sought a report from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).