RANAGHAT, India, March 15 (UPI) -- Eight men are being questioned in connection to the alleged gang-rape of a nun in her mid-70s at a convent school in the West Bengal area of India.
Police in the Nadia district said investigators identified the alleged attackers from closed-circuit cameras inside the Convent of Jesus and Mary School. Authorities are continuing to search for more information and possible suspects in the case.
Investigators said the attack was originally thought to be carried out by a group of armed bandits, but "religious considerations" cannot be ruled out. Sources told The Indian Express the school's Sister Superior had contacted the police several times following anonymous threats.
The Archbishop of Calcutta, Thomas D'Souza, called for more security at the school. He said the attackers tied up two of the nuns and a guard, while the third nun was raped. The men also vandalized the church, throwing communion wafers on the floor and stealing liturgical vessels.
"Christians in Bengal are deeply anguished by the shameful act of violence on an elderly and ailing religious sister at Ranaghat," D'Souza said in a written statement. "We would like to register our horror and shock at this barbaric act which has occurred in our tolerant and inclusive state of West Bengal - the land of Mother Teresa and Swami Vivekananda."
