Jabalpur: A group of Bajrang Dal activists allegedly stormed the campus of St. Aloysius Senior Secondary School in Jabalpur on July 11, chanting “Jai Shri Ram” and vandalising school property after accusing the institution of conducting religious conversions, school officials said.
The mob, which attacked while students were on campus, reportedly threw stones at buildings and broke several window panes. Father Thankachan Jose, a senior priest and teacher with the Jabalpur Catholic Diocese that runs the school, said some attackers even tried to damage the full-body statue of St. Aloysius.
Father Jose dismissed an ex-staff member’s claim that he had been pressured to convert to another faith as baseless. He said the school has served the community for 25 years and currently educates about 2,500 students; allegations of conversion were unprecedented in the school’s history.
According to Father Jose, the former employee—whose one-year contract was not renewed—complained to police and the education department claiming he had been asked to convert. When management refused the employee’s demand to continue his posting, the former staffer allegedly threatened to file a case against the principal, Father Somi Jacob, invoking the state’s stringent anti-conversion law. Father Jose said the complainant failed to provide evidence, and he suspects some Hindu activists mobilised to act against the school.
Former Jabalpur bishop Gerald Almed said the episode is part of a pattern of attacks targeting Christians and their institutions. “People from every religious and cultural background study and work in our schools, but when someone is denied entry or employment, accusations of conversion are used to attack and harass us,” he said.
Father Jose and Bishop Almed criticised misuse of the state’s anti-conversion law to entrap Christians in false cases. Under Madhya Pradesh’s 2021 Freedom of Religion law, cases had previously been registered against Almed and a nun alleging attempts to convert minors.
School officials also alleged they notified police during the incident but said authorities did not act effectively. Police responses and any registrations or investigations were not immediately available.