Priest Commits Suicide In Manipur After Report About Violence
Priest Commits Suicide In Manipur After Report About Violence:Â
At the age of 40, Catholic priest Fr. Anil Francis was discovered dead in a cemetery and is thought to have committed suicide. He had received a police complaint for a social media post condemning violence against Christian tribals in the northeast Indian state of Manipur.
Fr. Anil Francis was renowned for his dedication to his work and moral principles. After converting to Catholicism, he oversaw a primary school run by the church in the Sagar district, where his Hindu family lives, until being ordained in 2013.
According to a statement from the Diocese of Sagar in central Madhya Pradesh, he was discovered last Thursday hanging from a tree. In his suicide note, Fr. Anil Francis requested that his body be burned. diocese declared
Father Sabu Puthenpurackal said that Francis’ body was found the day after he arrived at Bishop James Athikalam’s house for a two-day retreat.
When he was missing, the body was found hanging from a tree after being searched, said the Sagar diocesan priest.
According to reports, he recently shared a picture on social media emphasizing the plight of two Manipur women, one of whom was gang-raped and exhibited naked. His post made reference to the continuing violence in Manipur, where more than 200 people have died and almost 400 churches have been destroyed.
The diocese acknowledged that Francis was under tension over a police complaint filed against him for his social media post on Manipur violence. According to observers, there may be a connection between the police complaint against Francis and greater anti-Christian tendencies in the state.
However, the motives for Francis’s death by suicide are still unconfirmed.
Bishop Athikalam was quoted as saying, “We do not know what made him take such an extreme step.”
After the post-mortem, a prayer was held for Francis before his body was handed over to relatives for cremation, as per his last wish, Athikalam said.