Indian Catholic nun nominated member of minority commission

May 19, 2012: In a first perhaps in the whole of North India, Rajasthan Government has nominated a Catholic nun as a member of the State's Minority Commission.

Sister Mariola Sequeira, of the order of the Mission Sisters of Ajmer (MSA), teaches English in Ajmer's prestigious Sophia College. But she is known in the human rights circles as an “activist nun”. Her appointment was greeted with joy by her activist friends and superiors and Church leaders.

The Mangalore-born nun is a member of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) Rajasthan. She has been the state coordinator of the Prison Ministry India since 2004 and an NGO member of the Grievance Committee on Sexual Harassment at the Workplace at Central Jail, Ajmer.

In March 2010, television news channel CNN-IBN chose Sister Mariola for the “Real Heroes Award” for her work in rehabilitating women prisoners.

Her advocacy and campaign for six years had resulted in the release of a mentally-ill prisoner from Central Jail on January 25 last year, after 18 years of imprisonment.