Two Scripture Union staffers accused of Islamophobia
By Robin Sam
SCRIPTURE UNION India’s woes never seem to be ending. With each passing day, newer allegations about the misdemeanour of some of their staffers are being levelled on social media platforms by young women who attended SU meetings as children a few years ago. The latest involves Scripture Union staffer Samuel Jaisundar (now under suspension) and his colleague Janet Ebenezer. Both of them have been accused of Islamophobia and mistreating and verbally abusing a teenage girl who served as volunteer at one of SU’s VBS meetings six years ago.
Yesterday, Joel Giftson tweeted this screenshot which alleged Islamophobic comments made by Sam Jaisundar and Janet Ebenezer. The message was from someone who said she was made to leave a VBS meeting held at a private Christian school in Vellore because she disagreed with Sam Jaisundar. He allegedly said she was promoting terrorism because she had brought one of her Muslim friends to the meeting. She said SU staffer Janet called her ‘mad’.
Monica Prasanna (25), a social worker and human resource management specialist, the woman whose message Giftson had tweeted, agreed to speak up on the issue. Monica’s grandfather, the late Bishop Rt. Rev. J. Sam Ponniah, was the first bishop of CSI Vellore diocese. The Christian Messenger spoke to her over phone on October 7.
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Excerpts from the interview:
The Christian Messenger: Hello Monica, it is alleged that Janet Ebenezer or Jem akka as some call her assaulted you a few years ago. What was it all about?
Monica Prasanna: Yeah, this happened in 2015 when I was 19 years old. Because of the VBS inspection that year at the school I had to prepare a lot of charts. I had to go early in the morning to set up the charts because there was also teachers’ devotion I had to attend. I needed help because none of the volunteers were available. So I took my college friend along to help me out. This friend was a Muslim girl; I took her to the VBS because I wanted her to listen to the VBS stories and experience what we do there. When classes were going on, Sam uncle (Samuel Jaisundar) barged in, pulled me out of the class and started screaming at me in front of my Beginner Class children. I didn’t know why he was screaming at me and I was also not used to being talked to like that in a furious tone. Listening to the shouting, the whole floor had gathered around us by then. He asked me who I had brought along to the VBS. When I told him, she was a friend, he asked me why she was there. When I told him because I needed help I had brought her, Sam uncle asked me if she was a Christian. When I told him she was a Muslim, he said: ‘You have brought a terrorist into the school campus, how dare you do that? Are you a criminal too?’
Even as I was trembling at this man’s yelling, he turned around and asked Janet to take me away as I needed counselling. Then Janet, who I was meeting for the first time in 2015, grabbed me by my arm and took me to a room, pushed me into it and locked the door behind her. She also started screaming at me. I kept sobbing even as she asked me if I was promoting terrorism. I come from a missionary family. My grandfather, Sam Ponniah, was a bishop. And, my aim was to show my friend what Christianity was all about.
I now wonder how can this woman, Janet, call herself a missionary? Which missionary grabs someone so hard that it leaves a blood clot on the arm for days after that? She called me a criminal and a terrorist for bringing a friend who happened to be Muslim. And, it wasn’t as if my friend had come in a headscarf or purdah. She was dressed like any other girl.
Janet then asked me if I was diagnosed for mental illness and under treatment – all this for bringing someone from another faith to the VBS. Later, she grabbed my phone and stored her own number saying: ‘Next time you feel like sinning or committing crimes, call me!”
How can they talk about winning souls if this is the way they treat someone for bringing a friend from a different faith to a Christian meeting?
At last, when she opened the door and walked out I found Sam uncle standing outside the room grinning at me. He came up to me and told me, ‘Now, you can go home and teach. Since you have such bad company you don’t have to teach here anymore. And, don’t bother to return.’ I left the place along with my friend thinking I wasn’t safe even in my own hometown. As Janet akka swore and verbally abused me in a closed room, Sam uncle stood outside. Why? Why was he the only male in the entire building while I was being verbally abused by a woman? Anything could have happened that day. It was purely God’s grace that kept me safe.
Way back in 2011-2012, Sam uncle used to send me late night text messages asking for hugs. His messages were always in the night. The Facebook notifications would pop up waking me up from sleep. In retrospect, I’m wondering if he sent me out of the VBS that day for not responding to his messages asking for hugs and obliging him.
These days, Sam uncle’s stories are all over the Internet but then nobody knows much about this Janet akka. Her words and facial expressions are still fresh in my mind. And, after all these years I still cannot wrap my head around her harsh words and the way she treated me. If she could harm a 19-year-old girl like me, imagine what she would have done to smaller children? Children get scarred for life because of trauma and horrid experiences like this.
I am speaking about it now after all these years in the hope that it would help someone else speak up too. I hope my story might help another human being. What if something worse had happened to someone else and they didn’t have the courage to come out in the open?
That day is still fresh in my mind after all these years because that was the worst day of my life when someone treated me with such utter disrespect calling me a criminal and a terrorist for no fault of mine. Those were really strong words to be used against a 19-year-old.
My grandmother the late Dr. Susheela Ponniah, who was a colleague of Dr. Ida Scudder, worked with leprosy patients even when she had two infant sons. I have heard she never used to frown upon them or ill-treat them. That came to my mind when my Muslim friend was not welcome at the VBS and I myself was manhandled by a woman counsellor. What kind of missionary example were they (Sam and Janet) following when my family had set a whole new example for me to follow?
I had been attending Scripture Union’s VBS classes at Scudder since the time I was 6 or 7 years old. Even when I grew up and became a VBS teacher, it was one event I used to wait for all year. My children used to tell me that even the next year they would come to my class. It was so fun. The kids loved me and I loved the VBS. And, after this unfortunate incident I have stopped going to the church, the Sunday class and the VBS. I was a girl who attended three different church services on Sundays. I was in the choir and Sunday school. This incident totally put me off.
TCM: You didn’t report this matter to your parents back then?
MP: I told them a little bit then, but I kept the ‘terrorist’ part under wraps because I didn’t know how they would react. But, yesterday I sat them down and told them everything. They were furious about it. The point I am making is that people who are so harmful and vengeful should not be involved in anything to do with children.
TCM: Did you tell them about these late night messages from Sam Jaisundar?
MP: Actually, my mother remembers him texting me at night. Back then, she scolded me once about it. Recently, when I told my parents about it my mother told me that she also used to wonder why that man was sending text messages. Now, I have told them every single thing. And, my mother was the one who told me it was fine if I wanted to talk about those things about Sam and Janet. I have already given another interview to somebody else before this. They asked me if I wanted to remain anonymous. I said ‘No.’
When the girls are coming out in the open about their harrowing experiences with the SU staff, the school authorities are telling them not to spoil the image of the school. And someone representing the school even had the cheek to say, ‘Sam behaved that way because they girls gave him the space to do it.’
TCM: Is that Muslim girl still friends with you?
MP: Yes, she is. But, I didn’t tell her about how Sam and Janet had insulted her faith.
TCM: Has this incident affected your faith in the Lord?
MP: No. There are people like this in the church too. After that incident, I asked myself why should I go to a place like this and stopped going to the church. But, I still have faith in the Lord.
