Young Mother Is Fifth Christian Killed in India in Two Months

NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – A 26-year-old mother became the fifth Christian in two months to be killed in India last week when she refused to hand over her daughter to be raped by Hindus who had assaulted the girl and other Christian minors, sources said.

Two masked Hindus on July 20 slit the throat of Sunita Devi (name changed for security reasons) in Regadi village, in Jharkhand state’s Khunti District, when she came out her door at 1 a.m. and refused their demand for her young daughter, according to the sources.

“The two suspects had raped Devi’s minor daughter three times in the past besides three other Christian juvenile girls, and all four of the minor girls belong to my church,” pastor Jaymasih Nag of Grace Family Ministry (Anugrah Pariwaar Seva) told Morning Star News.

Devi’s daughter told police the assailants had previously called Devi by phone with demands that she hand over her daughter to be sexually abused, according to a police report. That night her mother had refused to answer her cell phone when the assailants called, according to the daughter.

At about 1 a.m. Devi noticed two men at the window of the room where she had been sleeping with her children and decided to get up and send them away, Pastor Nag said, based on what the minor girl had told him.

“Unaware of their intentions, Devi with the help of her cell phone torch, stepped out of the house to shoo the men away,” he said. “Devi’s daughter followed her mother. Before long, the men attacked Devi and she fell on the ground dead. On seeing her mother fall on the ground, the minor girl quickly ran inside the house and latched the door from inside.”

The girl thought there could be more men at a distance, but because of darkness she could see only two of them with their faces covered, he said. According to police, after the assailants killed Devi, they dragged her body into a nearby jungle, put her corpse into a sack and threw it into a river about two miles away. 

Police found her body at 2 p.m. and sent it for autopsy.

Pastor Nag saw her corpse and said her throat was completely slit.

As her husband works in Odisha state to provide for the family, Devi had lived alone with their two sons and two daughters. She had kept quiet about the torment her family was going through and was dealing with the rapists herself, thinking they would not go to the extent of killing her, Pastor Nag said.

Her husband and the Christian parents of another rape victim went to police only after the killing of Devi, sources said. On the basis of statements from the two girls, officers at the Khunti police station registered a First Information Report and arrested two suspects, station in-charge Jaideep Toppo said.

“At the complaint of the two minor girls, we arrested two suspects, and they have confessed to their crime of raping Devi’s daughter three times and the other girl once,” Toppo told Morning Star News.

Asked if the suspects killed Devi, Toppo said only, “The two men are arrested for rape and not killing.”

Pastor Nag pastors his church in nearby Saridkel. Devi and her family began attending his church six years ago. Hers is one of eight Christian homes in her village of 25 families.

Religious Motive

The two men arrested are Hindus who live in Saridkel village, where Pastor Nag has led regular worship services for the past 12 years, less than a mile from Regadi.

Pastor Nag said that girls from Christian homes are intentionally targeted by Hindus who influence followers of tribal Sarna religion, trying to introduce Hindu gods into their rituals and uniting with them against Christians.

“Why are all their targets Christian girls?” he said. “Though the opposition might not be visible outwardly, there is constant threat to believers in various forms.”

Other area Christian leaders also said the rapes and the killing were clear cases of persecution.

“Christians are soft targets, and the underlying factor of such incidents are always because of their faith,” a Christian leader from Ranchi, Sandeep Oraon, told Morning Star News. “This belt of Jharkhand has been witnessing rising persecution, and it is very real for the Christians who are living it every day.”

Asked if the assaults against four Christian girls and Devi pointed to a targeting of Christians, Station in-charge Toppo told Morning Star News, “You are thinking too much.”

Fear of Reporting Rape

Pastor Nag noted the likelihood that there were more than two rapists.

“We are yet not sure if the rapists are only two – there could be more than two involved in the crime,” he said. “We are not sure if the rapists have targeted just four Christian girls and not more.”

In a culture that shames rape victims and facing threats from the assailants, the victims did not quickly reveal the crimes. After Devi’s husband and the other rape victim’s family took the bold step of approaching police, two more families in his church, residents of Saridkel, informed Pastor Nag that their minor daughters also had been victims of the two men, Pastor Nag told Morning Star News.

“I am shocked that neither Devi nor the other three families ever spoke to me about the traumatic experience they and their children had been going through,” he said. “They fear the adverse consequences their families will have to face for speaking out. Devi probably was afraid to speak out, knowing well the consequences she and her daughter would have to face, and thus she did not approach the police.”

The rapes and killing have terrified Christians in the two villages and surrounding areas, he said.

Christians begin facing opposition from Hindu and Sarna tribal religion villagers from the moment they put their faith in Christ, Nag said. Opposition also drove him from Saridkel for many years, forcing him to settle in a nearby city, he said. Extremists threatened to damage his church building, he said, and only in January did he dare return to his native Saridkel.

Political Pressure

A well-placed source told Morning Star News that there is immense political pressure in this case.

“Initially the police had arrested four suspects, but they let the other two go after some financial ‘give-and-take,’” the source said.

On Saturday (July 25) the arrested men were taken to court to record their statements, and a member of the Legislative Assembly belonging to the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party accompanied them in support, the source said.

Station in-charge Toppo said he was not aware of any confession to homicide.

Though the autopsy was performed the same day the body was discovered, July 20, Toppo said he was still awaiting the autopsy report.

“The weapon used for killing is not clear yet; wounds on the deceased’s neck and back were visible,” he told Morning Star News. “The rest will be clear in the report.”

Pastor Nag said he found police proceedings were “slow” and “ignoring the obvious.”

“Though it is obvious that these men brutally murdered Devi after she refused to give her daughter to them, police are still slow in taking action on the ‘killing’ front,” he told Morning Star News.

Asked about this allegation, Toppo reiterated, “Investigations are underway, and nothing can be said until the investigation is complete.”

Rapes

Devi was laid to rest on her own farmland on Tuesday (July 21). She is survived by her husband and four children, ages 2 to 13.

On June 28 she had sent her daughter to buy some vegetables at a nearby market. The girl went with a neighbor friend, and on their way the two suspects abducted them and took them to a secluded place, where they locked them in a room, sources said.

The two girls were kept in the room, which was locked from outside, with men taking turns to guard it until 9 p.m.

“These men entered the room at 9 in the night and raped both the girls,” Pastor Nag said. “This was the third time that Devi’s daughter was being raped and first time when her friend became their victim.”

The families of the girls searched for them throughout the night. The girls were released the next morning and informed their parents upon reaching their homes.

Devi’s daughter told her the rapists threatened severe harm if they told anybody about the assault, the pastor said.

“It was already traumatizing for Devi and her daughter that just like previous three times, the minor girl could be abducted from anywhere, anytime and dragged to a secluded place to be raped again and again,” Pastor Nag told Morning Star News. “It was since then that Devi started to receive constant phone calls from these men demanding for her daughter to be given to them for their sexual pleasure.”

Informed of the previous rapes, Toppo expressed surprise and told Morning Star News that the complainants had not reported the prior two rapes, and that police would investigate when they do so.

Devi’s husband has taken his four children out of the village, and they are living in an undisclosed location. He has received constant phone calls from the suspects’ friends and supporters pressuring him to withdraw the charges, Pastor Nag said.

“There are threats to his and his children’s lives,” the pastor said.

Including the death under mysterious circumstances of a Christian woman in Chhattisgarh state the last week of May, Devi’s death is the fifth religiously motivated killing of a Christian in India in two months. On July 10 in Maharashtra state, Maoists killed pastor Munshi Devu Tado in Bhatpar village, Gadchiroli District.

In Bari village, Jharkhand state, followers of tribal religion on June 7 abducted and killed Kande Munda. On the night of June 4 in Odisha state, followers of tribal religion abducted 16-year-old Sambaru Madkami for his faith before stabbing and stoning him to death.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on April 28 urged the U.S. State Department to add India as a “Country of Particular Concern” to its list of nations with poor records of protecting religious freedom.

India is ranked 10^th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The country was 31st in 2013, but its position has worsened since Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.

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Indian police mishandled investigation into nun's rape

India’s National Human Rights Commission has accused police and government officials of mishandling the investigation into the rape of a Catholic nun.

The commission found several deficiencies in the official investigation, including failing to secure the crime scene and failing to examine possible physical evidence that could have helped identify the assailants.

The commission also said that the Chhattisgarh state government failed to offer the victim compensation, legal aid or psychological counseling as required under Indian law. The commission said in an Aug. 20 statement that it was seeking an explanation within six weeks from police and the state government about alleged missteps in the investigation.

The nun, a Salesian, was raped early June 20 by two masked men who broke into her room, drugged her and tied her up.

The incident in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, spurred a series of protests across the state demanding swift action by police in arresting the culprits. Outrage among the Christian community spread to the nation's capital of Delhi.

However, two months after the incident, police are no closer to an arrest.

Raipur police superintendent Badrinarayan Meena told ucanews.com that police have interrogated “some 200 people” but have not made an arrest.

Meena said he had not seen the commission's statement and declined to respond directly to the allegations.

Father Sebastian Poomattam, vicar general of the Raipur diocese, said the rights group's statement confirms “all that we have been saying about" the poor police investigation.

Father Poomattam told ucanews.com that the Church will continue to press the issue until the victim receives justice. Church leaders plan on meeting with the state’s chief minister to put pressure on the administration for results.

"Our plan of action will depend on the response of the chief minister. But in any case, there will be action from the Church in the coming days," the vicar general said.

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Christians Say They are Under Siege in India After Nun's Rape, Church Attacks

Kolkata:  Christians in India said on Monday that the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not done enough to protect their religion, after a spate of attacks including the rape of a 72-year-old nun in Bengal over the weekend.

Christians prayed and held vigils across the country to protest against the rape during an armed assault on a Bengal convent school, the worst in a series of incidents that followers of the faith say are making them feel unwelcome in their own country.

The motive for the assault and armed robbery in West Bengal on Saturday was not clear. Police said they have detained 10 people who broke into the Convent of Jesus and Mary School in Nadia district, northeast of Kolkata. The man suspected of rape has not been caught.

The rape victim who is still in hospital has appealed for peace. " The  nun has said she has forgotten the incident, has forgiven the crime and has asked all to pray for the culprits," said Sister Amala, who visited the assaulted nun this morning. 

A few days ago, a Catholic church being built in Haryana was vandalized; its cross was removed and a small statue of the Hindu god Hanuman was placed in the church.

Father Savari Muthu, spokesman for the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese and a national Church organiser, said, "We have to raise our voice against the atrocities. Christians will not tolerate this humiliation." 

Father Muthu said schools across the country were holding prayer meetings on Monday. Christians held a silent protest in the streets of Mumbai on Sunday.

Weeks ago, Mohan Bhagwat, the  leader of  the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), suggested that the charitable work of Mother Teresa had been aimed at religious conversion.

Critics say the remarks by the chief of the RSS, the ideological mentor of the ruling BJP, contributed to a climate where Christians are seen as outsiders, despite a more than 1,500-year presence in India.

"I am not Indian any more, at least in the eyes of the proponents of the Hindu Rashtra," prominent retired police chief Julio Ribeiro wrote in a column for the Indian Express paper.

The RSS has condemned the rape of the elderly nun. 

"No attack should be tolerated on any woman in India. Be it a Hindu, a Muslim or a Christian," Suresh Joshi, RSS general secretary, told reporters on Sunday.

Opposition lawmakers in the Rajya Sabha or  Upper House of parliament on Monday said the attack could damage the secular fabric of the country, where about a fifth of the population belongs to faiths other than Hinduism.

Since December, half a dozen churches have been vandalized.

In February, shortly after U.S. President Barack Obama called for respect for religious freedom in India, PM Modi broke a long silence on the subject and, speaking at a church event, vowed a crackdown on religious violence.

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Fear and anger grow in India after rape of elderly nun

Prayers were said at churches across India on Sunday for an elderly nun who was raped at a convent in an attack that has intensified anger over sexual violence and fuelled fears among beleaguered Christians.

The assault on the 71-year-old is the latest in a high-profile string of rapes in India and follows a spate of attacks on churches that prompted the Hindu nationalist prime minister, Narendra Modi, to promise a crackdown on religious violence.

The nun was attacked late on Friday after a gang of half a dozen robbers broke into a convent school in eastern West Bengal state and ransacked the premises, police said.

The robbers gagged a security guard before assaulting the nun. They then entered the principal’s room and stole cash, a laptop and a mobile phone, according to police.

Four of the six attackers have allegedly been identified through CCTV footage and a reward of 100,000 rupees (around £1,075) is on offer for any leads on the suspects. Five others have been detained for questioning.

Arnab Ghosh, a police superintendent who visited the convent near the town of Ranaghat, said the robbery appeared to have been carefully planned.

“CCTV footage showed that six men, aged between 20 and 30, scaled the boundary wall around 11.40pm, entered the school and disconnected the telephone lines,” he told Agence France-Presse.

“At least two of them were armed and the rest were carrying burglary tools. In the chapel, a holy scripture was found torn and … a bust of Jesus was broken,” Ghosh said.

Prayers were held on Sunday in churches in West Bengal for the nun, who is recovering at a hospital in Ranaghat, some 45 miles from the state capital, Kolkata.

“In our Sunday mass, we prayed for the sister to recover quickly from trauma, fear and her physical injuries. We will pray for her again this evening,” Thomas D’Souza, the archbishop of Kolkata, told AFP.

“They not only committed a heinous crime, but they also vandalised the chapel …This is the first time such an attack has happened in India.”

Christian leaders in Kolkata said they were planning to hold a candlelight vigil on Monday followed by a solidarity rally in support of the victim.

“We are shocked that a thing like this has happened in our state. We want the culprits to be arrested and brought to justice swiftly,” Father Saroj Biswas told the NDTV news network.

The attack was condemned during morning services in the western state of Goa, which has a sizeable Christian population, and there were also prayers for the nun in the capital, New Delhi.

The rape has added to the sense of fear and dismay among members of the country’s Christian minority, who have been deeply upset by recent attacks on churches.

Modi had been heavily criticised for not speaking out earlier against religious violence and has also faced flak for remaining silent about a spate of mass “re-conversions” of Christians and Muslims to Hinduism.

“Even if you call it an isolated incident, the background and the atmosphere for such an attack had already been there, so you cannot simply ignore it as a one-off incident,” Father Savarimuthu Sankar, a spokesman for the Delhi diocese, told AFP.

The incident also adds to a grim record of horrifying sexual assaults in India, which last week banned a documentary about a December 2012 gang-rape that sparked domestic and international outrage.

Authorities said screening the documentary could have caused public disorder, but critics accused the government of being more concerned with the country’s reputation than the safety of its women.

The gang-rape of a young physiotherapy student highlighted the frightening level of violence against women in the world’s second most-populous country and triggered mass protests.

It led to a major reform of India’s rape laws, speeding up trials and increasing penalties, although many campaigners say little has changed for women.

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