[sacw] Report on Shiv Sena Attacks on Christian Schools (Mumbai)

[Harsh Kapoor]

17 July 1999
FYI
(South Asia Citizens Web)
------------------------------------

Report of the Fact Finding Team on the attacks on Schools run by Christian
Missionaries in Mumbai by Shiv Sena in June 1999

The press in Mumbai has been carrying reports that the Shiv Sena Shakhas
were employing coercive tactics, including physical assaults, on the
principals and managements of the schools compelling them to admit
students recommended by them. Coercive tactics had been reportedly used on
at least three schools viz. The Sacred Heart High School, Worli, Infant
Jesus School, Jogeshwari and St. Annes High School, Malad (West). Since
all the schools coerced were run by Christians and Church, EKTA, Voice Of
The Exploited (VOTE) and Centre for Development Research and Action (CDRA)
together constituted a Fact Finding team to investigate whether the
motivations behind the use of coercive tactics were communal and to look
into other causes, if any.

The terms of reference set out for the Fact Finding Team were as follows:

1) Whether coercive tactics were used against the management of The Sacred
Heart High School, Infant Jesus School St. Annes High School and any other
school, and by whom? The sequence of events and the nature of coercion.

2) What were the motivations behind the use of such coercive tactics?

The members of the Team were as follows:

1) P.R. Ram (EKTA)

2) Dominic Warwale (Voice of the Exploited - VOTE)

3) Sandhya Mhatre (EKTA)

4) Irfan Engineer (Centre for Development Research and Action - CDRA)

During our Fact Finding, we met the principals and managements of The
Sacred Heart High School, Infant Jesus High School, N.L. High School,
Nutan Vidyalay, Caramel of St. Joseph High School and St. Annes High
School. We also met the parents of the school students as well as parents
of the children aspiring admissions in the above schools. We also met the
Shakha Pramukhs of Malad and Worli. We finally also met the Sr. Police
Inspector of Malad Police Station, Shri Jadhav, and Police Inspector Shri
Worlikar.

Background

Around June every year, admissions for schools begin. Middle class
parents, especially of children who have to be admitted in junior KG and
those who have changed their residence are a worried lot for admission of
their children into a good and affordable English medium schools. For,
there are very few seats in very few such schools. Schools run by the
church or having Christian managements generally enjoy a good reputation
in the eyes of middle class for their scholastic achievements, discipline
and also sports. They have all come to be known as convent schools. Most
convent schools are government aided as they have been operating since the
years when it was still the policy of the government to give aid to
English schools. In the year 1976, we were told by Father Carvallo,
principal of St. Annes School, Maharashtra Government framed a policy
which stopped give aid to any new English medium schools.

Stopping aid to new English medium schools did not peg the demand for
them. Nor did it encourage parents to send their wards into Marathi medium
schools. For schooling in English medium simplifies further problems at
the time of higher education, especially college, as education then is
entirely in English medium. English medium students, and especially from
convent schools, are preferred in the job market. For an overwhelming
majority, pursuit of education is less for acquiring knowledge and more
for access to job market. Thus, school education is preferred in convent
schools, no matter what price one has to pay.

Of late, however, the size of the middle class has grown enormously on
account of the various industrial and liberalization policies followed by
the successive governments. Due to the same reason, the size of the
industrial labour force has shrunk to a small fraction of their previous
strength in the late seventies and even in early eighties. The labouring
classes see no prospect of any job in the labour market for their
children. Therefore, they too aspire to send their children to the convent
schools, especially those aided by the government as the fees are
affordable. Thus the demand for convent schools has increased manifolds
though the government continues to pursue its rigid policy of not aiding
any new English medium schools. The net result is that though there are
new English medium schools coming up, being non-aided, their fees are very
high and non-affordable. For example, St. Joseph High School in Malad,
which is non-aided, straight away take Rs. 25,000/-, it is alleged, at the
time of admission, without even issuing any receipt. This is of course
besides the high fees to be paid every month, which can anything upto two
thousand or even more, depending on the school. Thus even the middle class
find it difficult to afford such private schools. There are some English
medium Municipal schools, but the parents consider them little better
than not sending the child to school.

Come June, the parents are a worried lot but so are the Principals and the
managements of convent schools. Typically, in this month, managements
receive requests from all quarters and from all those who consider
themselves as somebody important. They favour all those who are willing to
approach them by giving a letter of recommendation for admission. Armed
with a letter of recommendation from Mr. Somebody, parents stand in the
serpentine queues and chase principals and managements of the convent
schools in their area after taking off for several days from their office.
Principal is an exhausted and worried man too. Wherever s/he goes, s/he is
chased by the people with several letters of recommendations, literally in
hundreds. On an average, convent schools receive requests for admission
three times the capacity they can accommodate. The managements and
principals are also a helpless lot and do not know how and whom all to
accommodate. Most schools have turned themselves from single shift ones to
double shift. Their capacity cannot be expanded any further. Some schools,
at primary level, accommodate three on some benches. If the benches in the
classroom can accommodate 44 students, the principals in some schools fit
in upto 54 to 55 students. No more than this is in the hands of the
principals and managements.

One expects the Shiv Sena which claims to stand for Maharashtrians and
Marathi culture to discourage English education for children in Mumbai and
Maharashtra. Quite contrary, and even a little paradoxical, that they
actively pressurize the principals and managements of various schools to
admit children recommended by them into convent schools. The terror of
Shiv Sena is all pervasive and at times, some of the school managements
thought that they better buy peace by accommodating one or two of children
recommended by shakhas. The tiger thus having tasted blood was not
satisfied with one or two in the subsequent years, and their list would
become longer and longer every year. Not only the list would became longer
and longer but also the tone of their voice would become more and more
threatening, menacing and authoritative to accompany a longer list in
order to achieve results. Why and how does the Shakha pick and select a
few names for admission is not clear to us. For, their demand is not
admission for all those who desire education and certainly do not fight
for every citizens right to decent education. Some guess that it is on the
basis of money from the anxious parents are willing to shell out. The list
recommended by the Shakhas were not exclusively of Maharashtrians and son
of the soils, whose rights they claim to profess and fight for.

Here we feel that we must make a distinction between a recommendation for
admission from a Shiv Sena Shakha and that from others. Recommendations
from others are either in the nature of quid pro quo or persuasive. A
letter from a some prominent citizen or retired government official or
somebody known to the school authorities fall in the later category while
letters for admission from a Municipal Corporator or officer, or a
Government servant fall in the former category. For, the school
authorities also need help of a Corporator or a Government officer for
variety of things. However, recommendation of the Shakha is different
because it involves neither quid pro quo nor persuasion. It is full of
arrogance of their muscle power which would make everybody obey and bow
down to them. The Shakha should be respected not because its demand is
just and reasonable and in the interest of all, but because it is the
stand of a Shakha which must be respected and has the necessary clout to
enforce it. On account of recent attacks on Christians and Christian
institutions all over the country, and lack of motivation in some cases on
part of the police to quickly book the culprits and take deterrent action
against them, institutions run by Christians are particularly vulnerable.
Besides, all the Goebbelsian propaganda machinery can be activated and all
kinds of false allegations can be made once again before they are
physically assaulted and manhandled.

However, since the last two years, problem got further compounded. The
Arch Bishop of Mumbai has now given a set of guidelines on which the
admissions are to be given. The schools run by the church are giving
admission according to the guidelines set out. Some salient features of
the guidelines for admissions are as follows:

First preference should be given to Christians in the neighbourhood

Next preference should be given to others in the neighbourhood who have
other siblings in the school

After that, preference should be given to the children of poor, who earn
less than Rs. 600/- per head per month.

Preference is given to handicapped

Children of Government servants who have recently been transferred are
also accommodated.

The admissions in the schools managed by the Church are given not by the
Principal alone but by a constituted panel. This leaves very little room
for influences and arbitrary admission procedures and even donations. This
has been implemented more strictly, we were told from the last two years.

The Events in Worli

The Team visited Sacred Heart High School to find out what happened. We
talked to Father Joe Pereira, Principal Arlene Noronha and Father Simon.
On Saturday, June 26th, 1999, a group of 20-25 alleged Shiv Sainiks, led
by Harish Worlikar stormed the room of the Principal in a belligerent mood
asking her why the school did not respect the letters of recommendations
from the Shakha. The Principal asked them to calm down and invited two of
them to discuss with her their grievances. They would not listen. So she
took them to Fr. Joe Pereira, who is the manager of the school. All of
them, in the same belligerent mood stormed into the room of Fr. Pereira,
who like, the Principal Noronha, very calmly and coolly told them to talk
one by one. But they didnt heed, all the time they were shouting, why are
the recommendation letters from the Shakha not respected? Threatening and
abusive language was used. Their leader wanted to make a phone call to
Dada. He was allowed to by Fr. Pereira. On phone he identified himself as
Harish Worlikar for the benefit of the person on the other end. Father
later learnt that the Dada was none other than Dagdu Sakpal. Worlikar is
the Shakha Pramukh of Worli. Worlikar asked the person on other end of the
phone whether he would like to talk to Fr. Pereira, but apparently he (the
person on other end) must not have agreed. After the phone was
disconnected, Worlikar became violent. He broke the table glass and they
started pushing the table. Principal Noronha told them to calm down. She
was even ready to show their admission records and discuss with them the
criteria for education. But their grievance was only one - why were the
letters of recommendations from the Shakha not respected? They were not
prepared to discuss anything else. Sister Geraldine, who was also present,
told the Principal, why should we discuss with these people our criteria
of admission? Angered by this, one male Shiv Sainik (there were 5-6 women
as well among them) came and slapped Sister Geraldine. Principal held the
hand of the person who slapped Sr. Geraldine and pushed him before he
could advance again to hit her. The Shiv Sainiks started vandalizing the
place, pushed the table down, pulled the wall fan down and broke some
chairs. With the chairs, they hit the tube lights. Fr. Pereiras nephew was
also in the room, he helped Fr. Pereira, Sr. Geraldine and the Principal
slip to the adjoining room and bolted the door to save them while the
Sainiks continued with their vandalism. Someone amongst them was saying in
Marathi hya lokana aamchi bhasha samjhat nahin mhanun hee bhasha vapravi
lagte (these people do not understand polite language so we have to give
our message in this violent manner). Those who came to attack on Saturday,
were some students of Kirti College who are also members of the Bharatiya
Vidyarthi Sena, a front organization of the Sena (Harish Worlikar is also
a former student of Kirti College and a BVS activist. Some of the women
were from the neighbourhood whom the Principal as well as Sr. Geraldine
and others recognized. The attack according to them was pre-planned.

The Principal said that for 150 seats in Jr. KG. they received 500
applications as there is no other English medium government aided school,
except one in Prabhadevi, which is exclusively for girls and there was
same demand on that school also. Given the limited capacity, they could
not accommodate any more children than those they had admitted. Each
parent of the 350 children whom they could not admit felt that their child
should be admitted. So why should only those bringing recommendations from
Shakhas or other politicians should be given preference, she asked us.
This year the school had put a notice on the board that they would not
entertain any letter of recommendation. Accordingly, they returned every
letter of recommendation. The Principal said that they strictly followed
the criteria laid down by the Arch Bishop of Mumbai and therefore the
letters did not matter. What about those who could not get any letter of
recommendation and are poor from the neighbourhood area? Principal asked
the team. We were further informed that there are no more than 20%
Christians in the school. In the neighbourhood also, Christians form about
20% of the population.

The police broadly corroborated the version and swiftly arrested five of
the alleged attackers Viz. Harish Worlikar (Shakha Pramukh), Rajendra
Bhosale (Bharatiya Kamgar Sena, another form organization of the Sena),
Abhijit Patil (Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena), Sumitra Patre (Women Shakha
Pramukh) and Anita Patil (Gata Pramukh of Shiv Sena). The five accused
have been charged under Indian Penal Code section 141 (unlawful assembly),
143 (rioting by unlawful assembly), 149 (every member of the unlawful
assembly liable for any offence and unlawful act done by anyone of them),
323 (assault with fist), 427 (mischief and damage of property). According
to the police, the damage of the property is worth Rs. 4,000/-. A police
picket was guarding the school even when the team visited. Police
Inspector Worlikar told us that most of those who attacked were boys from
Kirti College. However, their investigations were still on to catch the
rest of the people. Though the police did take swift action in arresting
the culprits which had the salutary affect of restoring confidence of the
school management on the one hand and discouraging others from such
criminal intimidation. However, it seems that the police are satisfied
with their action and do not have any further motivation to arrest the
rest of the culprits. All the accused are out on bail as the offences they
are charged with are bailable.

We met Harish Worlikar in the Shakha office. He did not deny that they had
gone to the school on Saturday. But his version was that there were only a
few of them (he did not specify how many) and when they were representing
the case of parents, who had their own grievances against the management
joined them and their anger burst out. Worlikar was unrepentant and was
complaining that the management did not entertain his letters of
recommendations. They, according to him, had gone to the school to sort
out the matter as to why his letters were not respected. But the
management behaved in an insulting manner and therefore parents who were
already there joined them. The parents were also angry because the school
charges exorbitant prices for the books supplied and the school uniform.
Worlikar summoned some people from the neighbourhood who called themselves
as parents of children studying in the Sacred Heart High School and
corroborated Worlikars version.

Worlikars version is, in fact, a clever one to wriggle out of the charges
now slapped on him and his colleagues and dodge the police investigations
as otherwise he would have to disclose the name of all those were with him
and take a risk of them being arrested as well. The Shakha Pramukh and all
those who went with them do not have the courage to own and face the
consequences of what they did. Firstly, the versions of Principal, Fr.
Pereira and Fr. Simon tallied and corroborated each other. The FIR which
we checked in the police station also gives the same version. The
consistency of the version and corroboration raises a strong presumption
that their version is credible. Secondly, the manner in which the mob
behaved, it did not seem to be that strangers had suddenly collected in a
room and there was a sudden agreement within them as to how to respond and
act in a concerted manner. For the mob was stating only one thing besides
the abuses - why dont you respect the letters of recommendations from the
Shakha. It was unlikely that parents who were not mobilized by the Shakha
would want the school to respect the letters from Shakha. It is also
improbable that the parents whose wards were in the school would behave in
such abusive manner and damage the property of the school, as there would
be always fear that their child would have to face the consequences. Only
outsiders could not be bothered. Even assuming that the parents joined the
Shakha men who had gone to sort out matters with the school, they would
not have done unless from the very beginning they were in a belligerent
mood and in this sense the responsibility was that of the Sena men who led
the whole assault.

Malad

Orlem in Malad (west) is an area with Christian majority. Sixty to sixty
five percent of the population is that of Christians. The Orlem Christian
community is very closely knit community and church as well as the Church
premises in Orlem form the centre of many activities - pertaining to
Christians as well as secular activities and developmental as well as
other community activities. St. Annes High School is also situated within
the Church. 55-60% of the students in the school, according to the
Principal, are Christians and the rest are non-Christians. The high
percentage of the Christians is on the account of the fact that they form
about 60% of the population of the neighbourhood too. Thus it is clear
that preference is more on the basis of the neighbourhood and poverty,
rather than religion alone. The School is managed completely by the Church
and from the collection of the Church and the local Christian community.
There is another good English medium school but it is non-aided and
therefore the fees are very high and unaffordable. There is another aided
and good English medium school but for girls only - Carmel of St Joseph
High School. Both these schools are in high demand. There is Municipal
School too with English Medium but it does not get enough students on
account of poor quality of education imparted there.

In this case, the version of the school management as well as that of the
Sena was completely tallying, except in one place, which we will come to
later. The version where there is no disagreement is as follows:

There are about 280 seats in Jr. KG in the school and they received about
500 applications. Rest had to be rejected. This school also followed the
criteria laid down by Arch Bishop as mentioned earlier and as per the
criteria they had filled up all the seats. Vishwas Ghadigaonkar, the
Shakha Pramukh of Malad, along with Vinod Ghosalkar who is the Vibhag
Pramukh of the Sena and Chairman of the Konkan Development Corporation,
and other few people with carbine carrying bodyguards entered the school
premises and sought the appointment of the Principal of the School, Fr.
Francis Carvallo. Shakha Pramukh told us that they were made to wait for a
few minutes outside the Principals cabin, which they found insulting. The
presence of body guard within the school premises vitiated the atmosphere
as a student studying in eight standard seems to have expressed his fear
of the guns. When the delegation went inside the room they conversed
politely and the Principal also agrees to it. However, the body language
of the Shakha men raised apprehensions in the mind of the Principal, and
not without any reason. The Shakha Pramukh agreed, when we met him, that
his appearance sometimes conveys that he is a goonda. The delegation had
brought a list of 11 persons for whom the Shakha Pramukh wanted admission
in the School. The Principal conveyed to them that matters of admission
was not in his hand but inquired if anyone was poor amongst them. They all
kept silent. He inquired with them whether there was any way out for all
the three and a half hundred children he had to reject, and he would try
and find the solution to the 11 recommended by the Shakha. Since the
Manger of the school looked after the admission, the delegation requested
to pass on the list of 11 to the Manager and sought his appointment on
Thursday. The Principal however, informed that neither he nor the Manager
would be available for the Thursday as they had a church meeting somewhere
else. Asking for appointment on any other convenient day, they left the
premises.

As the Worli incident had occurred, and the body language of the Shakha
Pramukh created apprehensions in the mind of the Principal, he contacted
the Bishop and informed him of the incident and on his advice also
informed the police station. On Wednesday, the Manager of the school Fr.
Edward contacted the Ghadigaonkar on phone but he was in the bathroom, so
he left the message that he should contact him back. However, his wife did
not give the message properly and he thought that the father would ring up
again. On Thursday, a group of about 20 Shiv Sainiks came once again and
demanded appointment with the Principal and the Manager (though they were
informed by the Principal the day before that they would not be available
on Thursday). The Shakha Pramukh say that after being informed that the
Principal and the Manager would not be available for the day, they left,
However, one former clerk in the school who was an eyewitness to the
incident on Thursday told us that the Shiv Sainiks were furious and
threatened to damage the window panes and other things in the school if
the 11 students recommended by them were not given admission. The Sainiks
lodged a complaint in the police station that it has been announced from
the Church that there was a threat to the School and that the community
should gather to protect it. This according to them was creating
unnecessary tension in the area, and demanded that the police should call
the Principal and the Manager of the school and inquire. The police called
the Principal to the Police satiation but the principal refused. Finally
the meeting was held in the Church premises in which all the Fathers from
the Church were there, the Shiv Sainiks were there as well as the ACP and
other police officers were there, and tensions were eased. The Shakha
Pramukh clarified that he had only supplied the list of the 11 children
and would leave it to the discretion of the School authorities and not
pursue the matter any further.

The Shakha Pramukh agreed that the School was the best and his own son was
in the School. He further agreed that he did not know any instance of
donations being taken by the School or any influence being entertained. In
our long chat with the advisor to the Shakha Pramukh, the attitude of the
Shakha was same - how dare the School authorities not heed to the request
from the Shakha? He was fully supportive of what happened in Worli and
that these people should be taught the same language.

We could talk to parents of the children. These parents were standing
guard in solidarity of the school of these Sanjay Shriyan, Rajesh Kenia,
whole children did not get admission had come despite the fact of being
denied admissions as they felt that the school procedure is unbiased, and
impartial. They also pointed out they are opposed to the Shiva Sena
strong-arm tactics. Indira Purshottam Bhandare, Arti maker, Satish Mehta
and Murugesh whose children got admission, they did not have to pay any
donation, nor had they brought any letter from any politician.

The committee met Sr. Police Inspector of Malad Police Satation, Mr.
Jadhav, who just summed up the whole episode by saying that the matter had
been amicably settled.

Fr. Jerome Lobo, the Principal of Infant Jesus School located in
Jogeshwari in the midst of slum gave the details of his school. The
School has a strength of 130 students in Junior K.G., for these 130 seats
they got 355 applications of which only 37 applications were those of
Christians. The remaining seats were filled by applying the usual
criterion, and in the final tally 40% Muslims and remaining seats went to
Marathi speaking children.

On Thursday, 1st July, 99, Mr. Shailesh Parab, the Shakha Pramukh of the
area came with two constables and wanted to meet the Sister in-charge, she
led him to the principal. Mr. Parab was very tense in his style and said
that he wanted first the Marathi people to be admitted, else he would
bring a morcha. Since Fr. Lobo was aware of the Worli incident he
immediately sought the police protection.

Conclusions and Recommendations

1) The Problem of admission can be solved only by opening more schools and
improving the standard of the existing ones. There is a need to give aid
to schools that have been performing well, both English medium schools and
other schools.

2) Shiv Sena is least interested in resolving the problem of education and
working towards any solution to the admission crisis. If it was, the
Municipal Corporation as well as the State Government are in its hand at
the moment but it has done next to nothing all these years. They target
only the schools already doing well and for which there is a demand but do
nothing to improve the quality of other schools. Minority run schools are
particularly vulnerable in such situations.

3) The main intention and the mind set of the Shakha seems to be that they
should be feared. Not only education, but every institution, every
organization, every community and every individual should be living under
their terror and dictates. The dictates are often used for personal
aggrandizement rather than for any humanitarian objectives or social
justice. The list of 11 did not contain only Maharashtrians but also did
not, admittedly, contain any poor and there must be a reason why poor did
not figure in that list. They want every one to bow down to their
arbitrary dictates in all aspects of life. Only the sweet will of Sena
Pramukh, then Vibhag Pramukh and then the Shakha Pramukhs should prevail.
Nobody should question their decisions. There is a need to fight such
dictatorial tendencies and not by bowing down before the Shakhas. All
these incidents also bring out that the appeasement of the shakhas in the
past only increased their appetite for such ways but when the authorities
decided to stand up, the shakhas could do nothing.

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