Police arrested and remanded the rector of Bhopal archdiocese’s minor seminary yesterday in connection with abetting the suicide of a seminarian.

Father Thomas Philip of St. Teresa Minor Seminary was arrested over the suicide of Venu Kumar on Jan. 29.

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 (UCAN)

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