Fact Finding Team demands Judicial
enquiry CBI probe into murder of Sr. Valsa John in Jharkhand coal mines area
New Delhi: A Fact Finding
team that went to the Pachwara coal mines in Jharkhand leased by the Punjab
State Electricity Board has demanded a Judicial Enquiry or a probe by the
Central Bureau of Investigations into the murder of Catholic Nun Sr. Valsa John
on 15th November 2011, as also into the scenario of violence in the
area which has in recent times seen more than three violent deaths, police
firing and deep rooted unrest amongst the Santhal Tribals.
The fact finding group
was shocked at the apathy of the authorities and the control that the
management of the mines have gained in the region where human rights groups
have tried to assert issues of identity and the Tribals’ ownership of the land
which has been taken away from them.
It is to was also told by
the people/ villagers that prior to this killing, in Panchwara several
villagers namely Vijay Hembrom, Joseph Soren, Raghuvir Ray, were killed as they
were with the people protesting and later their death was dumped as mere
accidents.
As Sr. Valsa was killed
apparently in the context of her uniting and moiling the Tribals in opposition
to the mining in the area and then for ensuring that they got their due rights
by way of rehabilitation, the fact finding team, has also demanded the judicial
enquiry or CBI probe go thoroughly into the entire circumstances in which the
mine was leased to the PSEB and its private partner, and the role, if any, of
the coal mafia.
Posthumously, Sr. Valsa
is being vilified by vested interests who need to be identified and their role
investigated. There has been a concerted
effort in the local Hindi media to cast aspersions on her integrity and even
her character. It is important that deep investigations are carried out not
just into her murder, but the grassroots situation and events since the mine
was leased out by the government.
While commending the
church for its grass roots identification with the plight of the people in
remote areas, the Fact finding team has also called on the State authorities to
give proper appreciation to the work of Nuns, religious brothers and Fathers
who are working among tribal’s and rural areas to ensure their safety and
security.
The following is the text
of the report of the Fact Finding Team:
Fact Finding Team report demands
Judicial enquiry CBI probe into murder of Sr. Valsa John in Jharkhand coal
mines area
A Fact Finding Team
consisting of: Dr. John Dayal, Member, National Integration Council, government
of India, Sr. Mary Scaria SCJM, Advocate, Supreme Court, Sr. Helen Saldhana,
Secretary, Women’s Commission, Catholic Bishops Conference of India, and Mr.
John Mathew, photo journalist and photographer, reached Jharkhand on the 6th
January, 2012, to do an on the spot study of the situation and the events
surrounding finding the murder of Sr. Valsa John SCJM in the colliery area of village
Pachwara in Pakur district of Santhal Pargana region.
1. BACK
GROUND
Sr. Valsa John was brutally murdered in the night
of 15th November, 2011 in a mud-and-thatch house where she was
staying in Panchwara Pakur District, Santhal Pargana, Jharkhand,.
Sr. Valsa was born in
Kerala. She graduated from college, and after a course in Teachers Training,
she joined a school in Edappally, Kochi, Kerala .Inspired by the life of the
missionaries and the struggles of the poor in North India, she opted to join the
religious order of “ Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary(SCJM) ” which was
pursuing such work. She opted to work among tribals, especially the women,
children and the poorest of the poor in remote villages in Pakur District of
Jharkhand. She worked in the tribal villages for about 12 years.
Events came to a head
when the farmlands of the tribals were leased/ allocated to a coal mine jointly
owned by the Punjab State Electricity Board and a Calcutta based company PANEM
Coal Mines Pvt Ltd Company which held two thirds of the shares. The joint
venture company was given a 40 year lease on the land.
Inevitably, Sr. Valsa’s
work shifted to the struggle of the people who suddenly found themselves
displaced.
Barring a brief hiatus,
she stood by them till her dying day.
2. Known Facts of the case:
On the night of 15th
November 2011, a crowd of near about 50 people, armed with traditional weapons
came at around 10.30 pm and surrounded the house where Sr. Valsa was staying
after her recent return from Kerala. First they tied the few youth who were
present in the premises. Then they entered the house and dragged Mr. Sonaram
Hembron, the owner of the house, and threatened to kill him if he did not hand
over Sr. Valsa to them.
They thrashed him and
barged into the house. At first they did not find the Nun and they moved
out. The Fact Finding team was however told by local women that somebody from
the entrance of the mud house called out to say that he saw her at 4 pm the
same day. The mob returned and searched again. They found Sr. Valsa under
a bundle of cloths and a mat behind a box. They dragged her out, slashed her
mouth and neck with apparently a machete and axe. According to the members of
the family staying in the house, no sound came from Sr. Valsa.
The Fact finding team was told two of
the killers got in the waiting jeep and drove off while the others took route
to escape from the crime scene . It is said that there were outsiders -- other
than the villagers -- who were involved in the murder, though it was not clear
if anyone from the village or nearby hamlets had been seen with the killer
group. The entire operation was completed in 3-5 minutes.
The Fact Finding Team has been told seven
young men are in police custody.
According to the eye
witnesses, the killers were associated with the PANEM Coal Mines Ltd. As sub
contractors in the movement of the coal to the railhead and similar operations.
It was also told by the villagers that prior to
this killing, in Panchwara several villagers namely Vijay Hembrom, Joseph
Soren, Raghuvir Ray, were killed as they were with the people protesting and
later their death was dumped as mere accidents.
3.
Sequence of events:
3.1. The build up to the
murder:
Since the
early 2000s, the Panem Coal Mines Pvt. Ltd, a project of Punjab State
Electricity Board (PSEB) and Eastern Minerals and Trading Agency (EMTA) from
West Bengal, had been trying to acquire land for mining operations in the coal
reserves of Pachwara and 32 other surrounding villages.
Sr.
Valsa John, who had been staying in Panchwara since 2000, and prior to that in
Jiapani, Amarapada tried to help the people to organize themselves against the
coal mining company acquiring the land of the villagers. Sr. Valsa took up the
cause of tribal people displaced by mining around Pakur, about 400 km (250 kilometers)
north-east of the state capital Ranchi.
Sr. Valsa John was patently
a person with total dedication to the cause of the poor tribals. This is borne
out by the testimony of the local people of the Santhal community, which is one
of the biggest communities in the area. Sr. Valsa learnt the language of the
people and spoke fluent Santali. Her women colleagues among the local tribals
said she tried to provide a new direction, encouraging them to take up organized
farming and to fight social evils.
3.2. The
survey of the village land, Pachwara and the birth of a movement:
Sr. Valsa suspected something foul during a land
survey in the village Pachwara. The survey team could not satisfy her queries
and that made her to go out for more information. A total of 1151.70 acres of
land was to be acquired for the captive coal mine for the Punjab Electricity
Board. More than half of this (674.2 acres) was agricultural land – an alarming
situation as agriculture being the mainstay of the life of the Santhals. A large scale displacement of many families were
to follow with no clear terms of compensation
defined.
Educating and sensitising
the people in their rights, Sr. Valsa was able to build a movement from the
scratch. It was called Rajmahal Pahar Bachao Andolan (RMPBA), after a mountain held holy by the tribals.
The team gathered from the villagers and Church groups that Sr.
John specifically organized the local people to protest against the
exploitation by the coal mafia. She had the support of
other social activists like Majhi Haddam, the traditional administrative
Headman of the Santhal tribe, who worked to organize the Community. Her
actions marked her out in the eyes of the coal mafia.
3.3. Various stages of the Movement
The Rajmahal Pahar
Bachao Andolan (RMPBA) faced many ups and downs. The Administration and they
tried every trick in the book to weaken the Movement. They offered the village
youth with lucrative offers with the sole intent to disrupt the protests. This
divided the tribals into pro- and anti- Panem factions. But the basics of the
Movement were strong and the pro-Panem faction couldn’t achieve much.
Further came the
arm-twisting of the administration to exploit the legal machinery. Multiple
cases were imposed on key persons of the Movement including seven cases against
Sr. Valsa John. Valsa and many others
had to leave the village for the forest for more than a month. The Movement
remained intact and gained attention from every quarters, media, politicians, locals
and activists.
The Fact Finding team was
told the displaced poor people failed to get justice from all corners including
High Court and Supreme Court. Moreover they were harassed by the mining company,
police and the administration to withdraw their protest. Sr. Valsa was a major obstacle for them. She courageously
stood and supported the movement of the people and their efforts against the
coal miners.
3.4.
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
It was also told to the
team that when people could not withstand such harassments they were forced to
make an agreement (MoU) with the company at last. Sr. Valsa had a decisive role in formulating this
agreement to protect the interests of the people, and making the company to
accept it. Sr. Valsa saw that the MoU Monitoring Committee
(MC) consisted of two representatives from each village, three from the
movement, three from the traditional leadership and three from the Company
itself. Thus the Committee (MC) was consisted only of the Project affected
persons and the Company and no one from administrative and political side.
Relentless struggle and persistence
of the Movement finally brought the Panem management on the discussion board
resulting it in the December 2006 Agreement. Although the MoU was signed in
2006, the Company did not do justice to the people as per the MoU. That led to
tension mounting and the protest continued in the area. Under the leadership of
Sr. Valsa the local people had led
agitations against the PANEM coal mines located in Alubera and Panchuara areas under
Amarparda block Pakur district, in 2005, 2006 and she was arrested in 2007 but
she remained steadfast .
Sr. Valsa tried her best
to bring justice to the displaced people as per MoU. Along with the people she
demanded honest implementation of MoU. She urged the Company to establish
schools for the displaced children for their education as per MoU. She demanded
compensations like alternative agricultural lands, employment to local youths
and proper drinking water etc.
4. Team with the Nuns of Sr. Valsa’s Congregation at Jiapani
The Fact Finding team visited to the SCJM sisters Convent at Jiapani. Although the Nuns there
were hospitable, they did not provide any information. This was rather
disappointing. The team felt that they were either afraid of the consequence as
they are living in the vulnerable area and giving any information may have
future repercussions to them as well as their work and service to the people
around, including the help to the poor students.
The Nuns said once in the past, around 2006 and 2007, barricades
had been put up in the village and Sr. Valsa had “guards” around her with traditional
weapons who would not allow anyone to meet her. Even the Nuns were not allowed
to meet Valsa. Questions arise as to who was threatening Sr. Valsa for the
villagers to offer her such protection. The Superior of the Convent said she went
to the police to claim the body of Sr. Valsa after the postmortem examination.
The nuns said the PANEM company was helping them with
scholarships for the poor children in the institution for their education.
4.1. Team
with PANEM Officials
The Team reached the PANEM office around 10 a.m. on 7th
January, 2012 no high officials were in the office yet. The office had as
statue of the previous Executive Director who had been shot dead in the mining
area some time ago. The tram asked to see the incumbent Executive Director (ED)
. The watchman took the team members into the offices. While waiting for the
officer, the team was met by one Mr. Srivastava who introduced himself as the Human
Resource Manager. He said the PANEM Company had begin mining in 9
villages of Pakur District. The company, he said, saw that
the people get all that they need. He said he met Sr. Valsa once or twice on his
routine visits to the village. Earlier, junior staff at the mine’s office told
the team that Sr. Valsa had come to the office several times.
Mr. Nirpender Kumar (ED )
arrived in the office after his prayers. He had a long bindi on his forehead,
which endorsed that he was praying. On hearing that the team had come to find
out more about Sr. Valsa, the ED made a quick call to someone – possibly the
police – and enquired about the status of the case. According to him he had never met Sr. Valsa but read the news about her brutal
murder in the newspapers. `It was
unfortunate. She was doing a good work for the people,’ he told the team.
He narrated how well the Company had been working for the
welfare of the people . They are paying the compensation, the villagers are
given education, the locals children are sent to different places for education
and the company is paying their fees. The company, he said, had given an
ambulance to each village for taking people to hospital in case of any emergency.
As there had been a lot of rumours on the nuns integrity in some
of the print media and allegations that she been taking the money and she was working
for the company [Mr. Simon Marandi MLA had
been quoted by the Times of India saying Sr. Valsa “paid wither life for her
greed for money”] the team asked the Panem officials whether she was dealing
with compensation money. The ED denied all
such allegations about her. He said there was no cash dealing between the Sr.
Valsa and the company. The money was given to the people by cheque and they went
to the bank and encashed them in person. Sr. Valsa had nothing to do with the money. She
never received any money as salary even for teaching in the school.
The ED, HR manager and
other officials took the Fact Finding team to the site of the mine and told
them the process of taking out the coal from the seam under layers of earth and
rock. Also present were a few men there who looked like perhaps government officials
who said they were scientists from Dhanbad, who came there to look into the
possibilities of safe blasting of the mine. They left post haste once they
discovered the identity of the fact finding team.
4.2. Team at Panchubera Village -
On visiting Panchubera, the team were led to the house where
Valsa lived. The few villagers in the area looked frightened and timid. The
team talked with the people as some of them knew Hindi to converse.
The team was told they would be able to meet a girl who had been
raped, and whose case Dr. Valsa had taken up with the police. [One theory was
that it was because she had espoused the
girl’s case, that Sr. Valsa had been killed
by friends of the alleged rapist. The girl had been called to the police
station and was therefore not present, but the team met her mother who was still
in shock.
4.3. Sr. Valsa’s Home and Life style
The people there then led the team to the little mud house where she
was living. It is a very small room,
in a traditional village hut, which was plastered with cow dung. It had no windows.
The neighbours got a oil lamp so that team members could see inside the room where
Sr. Valsa was killed. Her blood still stained the mud wall although no blood
was found on the floor as the family has already cleaned up the floor.
In one corner of the house there were a few small utensils, also
a small cot, and a mat made of bamboo leaves, on which she used to sleep. The
company had offered a concrete house for her but she refused to accept it as
she preferred to live and share the life of the poor people by living in their
huts, a woman who had known Sr. Valsa, said .
The women the team met were heartbroken and were weeping. “We
lost our didi’ they told the team. They
are terrified and intimidated; They told the team that they lost their `himath’(strength). “ hum darte hai , abhi hamare pas kyoi nahi he
hame chalane keliehe (We are afraid and we have no one to give the team the
lead the team)” . Ek din veh hame bi
marenge (One day they will kill us too) . Bahuth log chale gai hamare group se kyoke ki sub ko company pasise de
rahi hai’ {many people have left our
group because the company is giving them money], said one of the women. The
team was also told that the former pradhan whose house Sr. Valsa
was living early had thrown her out when she confronted his son who already
joined the coal company and have already bought three dumper trucks and had
given them on hire to the company for transportation of the coal from the mine
to Dhanbad and Asansol railheads. People
said that he already has built a big house. His becoming rich suddenly paved
way for other group members to also fall prey to PANEM’s offer for a better
life if they live the village and joined them
4.4. Sr. Valsa John’s belongings.
The team also found a trunk, which was kept outside the room of Sr.
Valsa .The villagers said the trunk belonged to the family, which was given to her
for her use. A few books, and a copy of the Constitution of India was also there.
4.5. Meeting with Church personnel
The
Church personnel that the team met did not provide any information except most of
them felt that there was some one behind the murder. A number of the Church people
vouched for Valsa’s commitment and integrity while some refused to say
anything. The church personals also told the team that the mafia threatened her several times. She had to live in
thick forest for long time. Bow and arrow wielding tribals were her body
guards. They kept on accompanying her. Once she successfully completed the
literacy campaign in a village she used to move to another hamlet.
5. Valsa was under constant threat from PANEM Company
The team was told Sr.
Valsa had been under constant threat, possibly people associated with the PANEM
Company. This was known to many people. The Superintendent of Police has
confirmed that she had filed an FIR three years ago where she reported that she
was facing threats. This instance had been already in the print and electronic
media. The team felt that there was culpability of the police machinery, who knew
the life of the Sr. was in danger did not
take any action either to launch an investigation or to provide her protection.
6. Post murder developments:
The team feels that after
such a brutal murder of Sr. Valsa the police and administration is trying
to mislead the nation public attention through various means. The police, State
and some sections of the media are trying to pass the blame on Sr. Valsa
herself. The police has also not shown any zeal in questioning company
officials. The current focus is on the
rape case of one as Sr. Valsa was going to see the police in connection with
matter on the 16th November, 2011.
The team was perturbed to
learn from many local people that after the murder of the Sr. Valsa,
PANEM personnel had been the first ones to be on the scene of the crime even before the police arrived. Someone from among
them had taken away the registers which Sr. Valsa used to maintain with meticulous details
of the recipients/villagers receiving compensation for the acquisition of their
land.
It is intriguing why the police
and the mine company want the general public to believe that the Maoist are behind
the murder. When there were more than 50 people reportedly involved in the brutal murder, the police has
so far able to arrest only seven persons.
The team was also told that
the pamphlets showing Maoist owning responsibility for killing Sr. Valsa was
also brought to the police reportedly by the PANEM officials.
Several
important questions arise and they are :
(i)
Why did the PANEM
officials rush to the place of murder and why did they take away the register immediately
she was done away? What could have been the reason – whether there would have
been evidences that would go against them?
(ii)
Why did the Panem
official take the “Maoist” placard to the police? It is to be presumed that no
one will pick up anything from the crime scene till the panchanama / police
report is being done by the police.
(iii)
Where does/ who has
hidden the weapons used for killing Sr. Valsa?
(iv)
Who may have used the
locals to kill Valsa ?
(v)
Why the team was not
allowed to meet the rape victim, who may have given the team some firsthand
information?
(vi)
Who did the Panem ED
Panem phone from his office calling up to the PS while we were there and
enquiring about the progress of the case ? Was it an indication given to the
police that the team should not be allowed to meet the rape victim , who may tell
the team some inside story ?
(vii)
Why did the local boys rape
the girl , at that particular day ? because the girl was in the village moving
along with the same people , and why the police refused to take down her
compliant which forced Sr. Valsa to seek
an appointment with the SP on the 16th November? Was there a nexus
between the police and the administration and the PANEM officials?
(viii)
Why the investigation is
not moving?
(ix)
Are the local
administration attempting to suppress the truth by intimidating the villagers
and anti-displacement activists?
7. Our
Finding
After listening to
various people, the church personals, the nuns, company, the villagers, the
administration and seeing the places for ourselves the team
is forced to make the following findings/ conclusion:
(i)
Sr. Valsa
had become an eye sore to the coal mafia also the administration as they were
able to win over the innocent people with by gratifying them with dumpers/
money, etc..
(ii)
Sr. Valsa was a hindrance to their furtherance in
the mining as they are planning to acquire more lands of the tribal’s which is
already began and Sr. Valsa may have come down on them heavily with
the terms and conditions of the MoU that they have signed between the company
and the movement.
(iii)
The company realized that
as long as Sr. Valsa is there the people cannot be displaced
easily and cannot be cheated
(iv)
The administration and the
MLA seem to be hand in gloves with the company in all things.
The
pervasive nexus between powerful mining company and the State machinery has
resulted in a lackadaisical investigations into the murder of a Catholic
Nun who had worked for protecting the
rights of the people and restoring them
their human dignity
The
Fact Finding team condemns the barbaric murder of a religious
Sister who committed and devoted her whole life for the poor.
The
Fact finding team demands:
1.
Justice
to Valsa by the immediate arrest of the real culprits and posthumous restoring
of her dignity and reputation.
2.
Initiate
criminal proceedings against the police officers who failed in their duty to save Sr. Valsa knowing her life was in
danger and she was apprehensive of her security.
3.
A
judicial enquiry and at least a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigations
into the murder d circumstances surrounding the entire case.
4.
Follow
and abide by the terms and conditions enlisted in the MoU signed between the
PANEM Company and the Rajmahal
Pahar Bachao Andolan (RMPBA).
5.
A white paper on the
allocation of tribal land to mining companies.
No comments:
Post a Comment