Four nuns belonging to the missionary group, Foreign Missionary Sisters, were gang raped by suspected Hindu militants in the Jhabua district of Madhaya Pardesh in central India on 23rd September 1998.

The four Catholic nuns, all under 35 years of age, were dragged out of their convent, taken to a nearby field and gang raped by 15 to 20 men. The police claim that they have arrested 4 people in connection with the incident, but have declined to disclose their identity.

The assailants first knocked at the door of the convent pretending that they needed urgent medical help for someone. The nuns were unconvinced and refused to open the door. They barricaded themselves in a chapel but the assailants then broke into the convent and ransacked the whole building before dragging the nuns from the chapel and taking them to the fields to be raped.

All four of the nuns were from the state of Tamil Nadu working for FMS, a humanitarian medical organisation, set up to provide medical help to people bereft of medical facilities in the remote rural areas of the country.

The incident comes in the wake of increasing violence against Christians in India in recent years. In the last 2 years, as a result of widespread anti- Christian propaganda, there have been at least 45 recorded incidents of violence against Christians in the states of Orissa, Bihar and Maharashtra and Gujarat alone. Christians have even lost their lives in these attacks, and tens of Christian organisations, including schools, have been forced to close down. Hindu militants have pledged to make Gujrat a Christian free state by the year 2000.

The current government is an alliance which includes RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak) and Shiv Sena, and is led by the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). It has united the militant groups around the vision of India as a Hindu state in which minorities must assimilate to the majority culture and language, revere the Hindu religion and glorify Hindu culture.

Christian leaders have condemned this recent incident and have called upon the government to take immediate action to address the increasing and systematic persecution of Christians in India. Archbishop Alan de Lastic, the most senior catholic clergymen in North India, has written a robust letter to this effect to President Narayana.

Dr Simon Qadri adds, We are horrified by these acts of violence against peaceful nuns. It is a tragic reminder that Christians in India are no longer safe from extremist attacks. Having received numerous reports and requests for help, CSW is now launching an awareness and advocacy campaign on behalf of Christians in India.