Fr. Sabu Puthenpurackal, PRO, Diocese of Sagar issued a press release on 6th December condemning the recent attack on St. Joseph School, Ganj Basoda, a city in Madhya Pradesh. Though the police were earlier alerted on the possibility of an attack, they were unable to protect the school.

Complete text of the Press release follows

On 6th December 2021, a set of hooligans belonging to a particular fundamental group entered the St. Joseph School, Ganj Basoda campus by breaking the gate lock on the basis of a fake news published by a local Youtube Channel named “Aayudh”.

The hooligans shouted against the Christians as well as school authorities for allegedly conducting baptismal ceremony of the school children. They pelted stones to the front elevation and broke windows and a vehicle.

St. Joseph Church Ganj Basoda had organized Holy Communion for the Catholic Children of the Parish on 31st October 2021. A group photo of the Holy Communion Children along with Bishop and the Parish Priest was published in the Diocesan Monthly e-Newsletter “Sagar Voice” on 5th November 2021. This photo was misinterpreted as conversion of Hindu children in the YouTube channel Aayudh and instigated the fundamental group to act against Christians.

Meanwhile, the Diocesan authorities had approached Collector and Superintendent of Police and informed about the problem. They had assured that there will be a force to protect all our institutions in Ganj Basoda. However, they could not curtail the attack.