Fears for missing teenage students

Seven teenage Christian girl students have gone missing from a convent school in eastern India where Christian-Hindu violence has left at least four people dead over the past 10 days, an official said today.

The boarding school in Bhubaneshwar filed a police complaint about the students yesterday, said divisional commissioner Satyenbrata Sahu.

“We suspect they have run away out of fear,” Mr Sahu said, adding that police were looking for them.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 Christians held a protest meeting in the Indian capital New Delhi today, demanding that the federal government punish the attackers who, they said, belonged to the hard-line World Hindu Council and other organisations.

“Stop violence against Christians,” read placards carried by them.