Nun from South Garo Hills harassed in Assam

The matter was taken up by Auxiliary Bishop of Tura Jose Chirackal.According to his statement, Sr. Rosemary, serving at St. John’s parish, Siju, South Garo Hills  had to travel from Dudhnoi to Goalpara on February 17. She boarded a bus at 11 am  from Dudhnoi and paid the fare upto Dudhnoi.

“Soon after, the bus conductor and some of the passengers began to make derogatory remarks on her, her religious habit 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 caused serious mental agony and harassment to Sister Rosemary both as a woman and a religious person. With the help of some other people, the Sister then took another bus to proceed to Goalpara”, the Bishop said.

The Bishop said there are numerous religious priests and nuns in Assam who wear their religious dress as any other place in the country. Harassment of people because they wear a particular dress or religious habit is ridiculous and unheard of. Such incidents take place because of a false narrative and propaganda spread against a particular religion. It is the duty of any Government to take adequate steps to curb such propaganda and create an atmosphere of social and religious harmony among the citizens, he said.

“Many from Meghalaya go to Assam for purposes of travel, medical care, marketing etc. Some of them wear their religious habit or carry religious symbols. In the light of this incident and other incidents reported in the media recently, the Meghalaya Government is kindly requested to take up the matter with Assam Government so that incidents such as the one mentioned above may not be repeated”, the Bishop added.

This article is originally published on https://meghalayamonitor.com/nun-from-west-garo-hills-harassed-in-assam/