Rome, Italy, Nov 13, 2007 / 12:29 pm (CNA).- Two convents were attacked and assaulted at the beginning of November in the northeastern Indian state of Bihar, in the latest round of violence against religious sisters and which often goes unpunished by police.

According to Fides, an attack occurred on November 3 at the convent and school of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Rajgir, where two armed men entered the convent by force, threatened the director, Sister Rose Platthottam, and demanded money.  After assaulting the nun in the head, the men ransacked the convent.

A second incident occurred on the night of November 2 at the community of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, where five armed men broke into the convent. They threatened the nuns and told them to leave the city and abandon their child care center for the poor and their medical supplies center that provides drugs for AIDS patients. 

The Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Patna, Msgr. Devasia Mattathilany, condemned both acts.  “Our work in the social arena is looked down upon by integralists.  We are at the service of the people, we should be protected,” he said, adding that many such acts of violence go unpunished by the police.

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