Shillong, Feb 22: A shocking incident of harassment perpetrated on a Garo Hills missionary nun during her journey in Assam has been condemned by the opposition benches and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma revealed that the government is already aware of the case and in touch with his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma who has assured action on the matter.
The Opposition has called the Government to curb such propaganda for peace and unity among different communities.
Moving a zero hour notice, TMC legislator Charles Pyngope narrated to the house the incident, saying that a nun, identified as Sister Rosemary, serving in South Garo Hills faced harassment from a group of passengers and also the bus conductor while travelling to Goalpara.
The incident took place on the 17th of February.
The nun had boarded the public bus from Dudhnoi at 11 AM and paid the required fare, but as the journey began a group of passengers and the bus conductor began passing derogatory remarks on her, her religious habit (dress) and her faith.
After some time, they stopped the bus at an isolated place and she was forced to alight from the bus.
The incident left the missionary nun shaken with immense mental agony and harassment to Sister Rosemary both as a woman and a religious person.
Pyngrope stated that such harassment is uncalled for and unheard of as he demanded that the Meghalaya Government take up the matter immediately with the Assam Government.
Opposition leader Ronnie V Lyngdoh of the Congress also submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister on the matter through the Speaker.
Replying to the concerns, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma informed that the Government is aware of the incident and he has already taken up the matter with the Assam Chief Minister who has assured to take action into the matter.
“However, as the nun is still in shock, the Government is unable to get all details of the incident like the Bus number. The only information is the date, time and location, we don’t have the bus number,” said the chief minister.
This is the third reported case of harassment of the minority Christians or institutions in the last couple of days in neighbouring Assam.
Last week, one of the oldest missionary schools in Upper Assam, Carmel School in Jorhat, had to seek police protection after a poster was pasted on its boundary wall warning authorities to “take off” all religious statues from the school.
Two weeks ago, on February 7th, Guwahati based right wing organizations issued a direction to schools run by missionaries or Christian community members to remove religious symbols or status of Lord Jesus, Mary, the Cross and Church from school campus’ within 15 days.
