Dear Goanetters, I am publishing the news about the seminarian Venu Kumar, who was a Catholic and was studying for Catholic priesthood. He committed suicide. It was well assessed by the authorities. But later on his father came with the Hindu radical groups to accuse the Rector of "forced conversion" and to extort money... Let the truth prevail! Regards. Fr.Ivo Suicide in Indian seminary, rector arrested cathnewsasia.com: 0:46 25-03-2010 Suicide in Indian seminary, rector arrested The rector of a minor seminary in India’s Central Madhya Pradesh state was remanded in judicial custody yesterday in connection with abetting the suicide of a seminarian.
Police arrested Father Thomas Philip, rector of Bhopal archdiocese’s St. Teresa Minor Seminary on March 23 over the suicide of Venu Kumar on Jan. 29, UCA News reports. The priest is also facing charges of attempting to convert Kumar to Christianity by force after the seminarian’s father claimed his son was a Hindu. Church officials have dismissed the charges as “totally baseless” and said the case was another example of right-wing Hindu groups’ continued campaign against the Church. The priest’s arrest is the “outcome of a premeditated conspiracy” between police officials and Hindu radical groups inimical to the Church, Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal told UCA News today. The arrest was executed in such a way that the priest was not able to apply for bail as today is a Hindu festival and a government-declared holiday. “It is really sickening to see the Church being dragged into baseless controversies for working for the development of the downtrodden,” the prelate said. He plans to meet top state and federal government authorities to ensure Christians in Madhya Pradesh enjoy “a trouble-free life.” The seminarian’s father, P. Sreenivas, told the media his son was not a Christian but he had sent his son to the seminary to study. He accused the Church of trying to convert his son to Catholicism. Sreenivas, a native of Andhra Pradesh, southern India, came to Bhopal along with a leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (world Hindu council). Meanwhile, Father Anand Muttungal, spokesperson of the Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh, said the Church had rejected the demand for 700,000 rupees (US$15,435) Sreenivas made to the Church after his son’s suicide. The Church, the priest said, admits only children of Catholic families to seminaries. The allegation that the deceased was a Hindu “is absolute baseless and aimed at misleading people who are ignorant of how the Church functions,” he added. Madhya Pradesh is among some Indian states that have enacted anti-conversion laws. SOURCE Prelate cries foul over Bhopal rector’s arrest (UCA News) cathnewsasia.com >From the letter of the Archbishop Leo Cornelio, SVD: "On January 28 a Seminary student from Andhra Pradesh, studying in Std. 11 in our Minor Seminary just in the outskirts of Bhopal, committed suicide. The police came, it made a study of the matter, interviewd the staff and students and found that there was nothing amiss. It was a purely suicide case. There was post-mortem and later on a church burial in his hometown in Andhra Pradesh. After more than 6 weeks, there was an accusation by the father of the boy saying that his was a Hindu family and the boy was forcibly taken from his home and was baptized and was forced to study for priesthood. So, out of frustration, the boy committed suicide. A criminal case was registered against the parish priest of the home parish of that boy and against the Rector of the Minor Seminary. All this was done by the VHP members, Bhopal, in connivance with the VHP people in A.P. Again, how do we know it? Just at the time of the arrest of the Rector, there was a press interview organized by VHP Chiefs in Bhopal along with the father of that boy whom they brough from Andhra Pradesh. Do you need more proofs of this type? I can refer to many. They attack houses, they attack schools, they prevent rural visits and help to the dalits and tribal people. Those who can swallow it are those who are blind and deaf with such sympathies to the extremists that they are imprisoned with chains of lies and make-belief world. I wish to exaggerate it or make false allegations? The Lord has asked us to stand for truth and Truth will make us free. If the Risen Lord is with us, as he has promised repeatedly, we have nothing to fear and there is no need to hide facts. As for exaggeration... Well, when many such incidents of this sort happen, we have to conclude that every event that takes place, is preplanned by these people, unless there is clear indication that it is only an isolated accident".
