by Kalpit Parajuli

Fr. Sanjaya Ekka is director of the Loyola Students Home in Kathmandu which houses 34 young poor students. The police stopped a 13 year-old barred from the institute a few days ago on the grounds of insubordination. The investigators speculate that the attack is a form of revenge.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) - A Jesuit priest was beaten and injured by a dozen boys who broke into his apartment in Kathmandu on the evening of July 27. The victim of aggression is Fr. Sanjaya Ekka, director of Loyola Students Home, a student for poor children that houses 34 young people.

Local sources report that the priest was surprised in his apartment by a group of boys armed with knives. The group attacked Fr. Ekka wounding him in the head, hands and back, fleeing the scene as the priest’s cries caught the attention of the neighbours.  

Fr. Ekka is now being treated in Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu where he was visited by his fellow Jesuit Fr. Lawrence Maniyar who told AsiaNews, that: "Fr. Sanjaya has two wounds to his hands, and others to the head and shoulders as well as some serious wounds to his back. Doctors say that he is not in danger, but needs careful treatment”.  

The police in Kathmandu have meanwhile stopped a 13 year old, Suresh Tamang, suspected of being involved in the attack on the priest. The boy was removed from the student home a few days earlier by Fr. Ekka on the grounds of insubordination. Investigators do not exclude that this fact is the motive for the violent attack on the priest.  

Fr. Sanjaya Ekka, originally from India, was for a number of years in charge of the mission in Baniyatar, in the suburbs of Kathmandu, caring in particular for Catholics from the Tamang ethnic group. In addition to his activities as head of Loyola Students Home Fr. Ekka also runs Laligurans, a daytime shelter for assistance to poor children.

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