CBI probe sought into Sr. Valsa’s murder

(January 13, 2013) Four members of a fact-finding team have urged the government of eastern India’s Jharkhand State to order the national investigation agency to probe into the murder of a Catholic nun slain there last November. John Dayal, member of the National Integration Council, who led the fact-finding team, told a press conference in Delhi on Saturday, they are urging the Jharkhand government to demand an enquiry or judicial probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to ascertain the real facts behind the killing of Sr. Valsa John, a member of the Sisters of the Charity of Jesus and Mary, who was axed to death in a Pachwara village on Nov. 15, 2011. Sr. Helen Saldanha, secretary of the Office for Women of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), Sr. Mary Scaria, a Supreme Court lawyer and John Mathew, a photo journalist were the other members of the team who went to Pachwara in Jharkhand’s Pakur district on January 6. In their report, the team, said that Sr. John was a hindrance to the coal mafia’s plans to acquire tribals’ lands for expanding mining activities in the area. The 53-year-old nun was active in mobilising and empowering tribals against mining by PANEM coalmines in the area and ensuring that they got their due rights by way of rehabilitation. The report stated that the company realised that as long as Sr. Valsa was there, the people could not be displaced or cheated easily. Till now only seven people have been arrested in connection with the murder. Meanwhile, the All India Catholic Union (AICU) too has demanded a CBI enquiry into the matter.