NEW DELHI — Each day children on their way to Mount Carmel School in New Delhi, India, pass through gates under the watch of armed security guards, and now city police officers stop there on government orders after a nearby Catholic convent and school were broken into.
The vandals stole money, tampered with security cameras and ransacked the principal’s office at Mount Carmel on Feb. 13.
The crime rippled through other Christian schools. The attack was the sixth in 2015 in an ongoing series targeting Christian communities and schools across India.
Also it was the turning point for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the growing safety concerns of India’s minority Christian community. Modi immediately asked the Delhi police commissioner to investigate the attacks, saying, “Government will not allow any religious group, belonging to the majority or the minority, to incite hatred against others overtly or covertly.”
In May the annual report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom cited an “increase of harassment and violence” among India’s Christian community.
The attacks have come against a background of fear, triggered by Hindus in Modi’s party, that Christians are increasing their efforts to proselytize — especially in schools.
At Mount Carmel, Principal Vijay Williams does not hesitate to explain his affinity for Christianity to visitors and students.
“Students are not forced to convert or even take a Bible class,” he said. “God converts them — we don’t convert them.” (RNS)
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