Suicide: Sister in Jail

Tamil Nadu authorities, India, took the suicide of a girl in a hostel run by the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary as a pretext to arrest Sister Sahaya Mary, 62, on January 19.

The suicide is used by Hindu nationalists to fuel accusations of “forced conversion.”

The sister was refused bail. The Provincial Superior Sister Firmina Mary told AsiaNews.it (February 1) that the sisters “empower the womenfolk who are under the oppression of male chauvinism.”

The girl’s mother committed suicide a few years ago. The girl came to the hostel to escape her stepmother and was horrified by the perspective of having to return to her.

Picture: AsiaNews.it, #newsGngjxrhagu