By BosNewsLife Asia Service

Sister Valsa John was hacked to death earlier this week.

NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)– Seven people have been detained in eastern India over the murder of a Catholic nun who was known for defending hundreds of people displaced by mining operations, police announced Friday, November 18.

Sister Valsa John, 53, was hacked to death Tuesday, November 15, in a home of Pachwara village in India’s Jharkhand state, according to police investigators. She had been threatened by “coal mine bosses for defending the rights of local tribespeople,” her family said Thursday, November 17.

The village where the attack took place is located in Jharkhand’s troubled Pakur district, 240 miles (385 kilometers) southeast of Patna, the capital of neighboring Bihar state.

“We have detained seven persons on the suspicion of their complicity,” Pakur’s police chief Amarnath Khanna told the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency.

GIRL RAPED

Police told local media they also detained four people for allegedly raping a tribal girl, who was a close associate of the nun. John reportedly attempted to discuss the issue again with a Pakur deputy police commissioner Tuesday, November 15, the day that she was killed.

It was not immediately clear whether the rape of the girl, who was not identified, was an attempt by locals to pressure the nun to halt her activities. The regional inspector-general Arun Oraon told media that an “officer-in-charge of the police station” had been suspended “for not registering the [rape] case.”

Coal extraction in mineral-rich Jharkhand is largely controlled by a powerful mafia that operates illegal mines, according to reporters with close knowledge about the situation.

The coal is then sold on the black market. The mafia has in the past attacked, and even killed, officials and rights activists who have objected to their exploitation of tribespeople.

“IMPOVERISHED VICTIMS”

John, who was burried Thursday, November 17, joined the order of the Catholic Sisters of Charity 24 years ago. She  did not want to stay in a monastery as she preferred to work among impoverished victims of the mining industry, Christians said.

Bishop Julius Marandi of the state’s Dumka district told The Hindu news paper that John was “a person with total dedication to the cause she espoused and love for the people with whom she worked.”

He said John worked with the Santal people, one of the biggest of the communities in the area, many of whom were displaced by the heavy coal mining in the region. (With reporting by BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos).

 

1 COMMENT

  1. THE HINDUTVA FORCES COULD NOT MURDER MOTHER THERESA-HOW FORTUNATE THE MOTHER ! Now SISTER REV.VALSA murdered for leading a decade-long agitation that ensured villagers were adequately compensated before a coal mining company was allowed to begin operations ! Murdered !!

    The coal mafia and also the Hindutva forces HAVE BEEN VERY CUNNINGLY DEPLOYING THE DIRTY STRATEGY OF DIVERTING the attention from the beneficial aspects of the activities of a priest /nun by giving a twist to make it appear that the heinous murder of that particular nun/priest was a sequel to the conversion activities !
    Even in the gruesome murder case OF GRAHAM STAINES AND HIS TWO KIDS in spite of the availability of concrete evidence , the bench of Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan chose to dismiss the CBI appeal for death penalty to Dara Singh, the main accused in the triple murder case and these justices had to remove some of their unwarranted comments from their judgement under public pressure ! So much so about the sense of justice of the Indian supreme court justices !!!!
    The crime committed by MR.STAINES AND HIS FAMILY ? They tried to convert the lepers INTO HUMAN BEINGS AS RSS AND THEIR HENCH MEN HAD NO TIME !!! FORTUNATE THAT MOTHER THERESA WAS NOT killed by the hindutva forces FOR SUCH CONVERSIONS !
    REMEMBER HOW MANY REPUTED SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES THESE NUNS AND PRIESTS HAVE BEEN RUNNING ?
    THE OBJECTIVE IS NOT CONVERSION , AS THE HINDUTVA FORCES WHO BELONGED TO THE COAL MAFIA/LAND LORDS HAVE BEEN VERY CUNNINGLY SPREADING THE CANARD OF CONVERSION TO SPREAD THE SEED OF SUSPICION , BUT THEIR AIM IS TO OBEY THE COMMAND OF JESUS TO HEAR THE BENIGN WORDS OF THE LORD ON THE LAST JUDGEMENT DAY :
    ” Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in: Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me. Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee; thirsty, and gave thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and covered thee? Or when did we see thee sick or in prison, and came to thee? And the king answering, shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.” (Gospel of St. Matthew, 25:34)
    My question is this – is there a ministry there IN Jharkhand ? Or why the Centre has not sent a battalion of CRP TO ELIMINATE THE MAFIA ?
    CAN WE EXPECT THAT THE HINDUTVA GOVT.OF MR.ARJUN MUNDA WHO HAVE BEEN HELPING THE COAL MAFIA IN JHARKHAND WILL DO ANY THING TO NAB THE CULPRITS ?

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