It is a Christmas filled with trepidation for the nuns at St Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity Home in Vile Parle West
It is a Christmas filled with trepidation for the nuns at St Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity Home in Vile Parle West. A front-page report in this paper yesterday stated how a woman named Sapna Pereira, who is notorious in Mumbai for hooliganism, violence, threats and intimidation, has been targeting this ashram for a few years now. The incidents though have escalated of late.
The woman, who is a criminal, has been rampaging the ashram. She has pilfered the ration storehouse, stoned the institution hurling the missiles from outside and even hit the sisters. She has thrown stones on a sister who is suffering from cancer. The sisters have approached the police for help. Shamefully, two local police stations always pass the buck on each other.
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There is also token help for the sisters. The ashram’s nuns seem petrified of this woman, who is more than a nuisance or menace. She is a downright danger to life and limb.
Though the police says she has been produced in court and warned and got out on bail, there has to be a concerted effort to see that this woman does not threaten the Ashram in any way again. The nuns have lived in fear for far too long as the miscreant arrives unannounced. They should now be allowed to live in peace and carry on their work.
We think NGOs can help the nuns and give them a sense of security, working along with the authorities. Lawyers may have to step in to see how this woman can be nailed and actually stay behind bars, as she seems to get away on bail on several other charges. There has to be a way to make the charges stick.
This ashram houses little children too and stone throwing could result in a fatality, not just injury. It is time to take a non-negotiable approach on tackling this issue. The ashram cannot exist with a cloud over them.
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