Seven held in Jharkhand nun’s murder case

(November 21, 2011) Seven people have been detained in eastern India’s Jharkhand state in connection with the murder of a Catholic nun there last Tuesday. The seven were detained in Pachaura village, 40 km from Jharkhand’s Dumka district, for interrogation on Friday in the murder of a missionary, Sr. Valsa John from southern India’s Kerala state. Also, four people, including a Dumka College student, were arrested for allegedly raping a tribal girl, Sister Valsa’s close associate, on November 7. Police said Valsa took the girl, 20, who stayed with her, to Amrapara police station to lodge a complaint but was turned away. She later met Pakur deputy commissioner who asked them to meet him again at a later date. But before that she was killed on November 15. “The officer-in-charge of the police station has been suspended for not registering the case,” said Dumka inspector-general Arun Oraon. Police are investigating if there is a link between Sr. Valsa’s murder and the rape of her associate. The nun, a member of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary, was reportedly dragged out of her rented house in Pachaura at night and was attacked with weapons by a gang of 40, villagers said. She was buried on Nov. 17 at St. Paul’s Church, Dudhani. Founder of an NGO to protect the Rajmahal Hills, Sr. Valsa is said to have been living at a rented house in Pachaura village. Her forest conservation initiative at the Rajmahal Hills had caused discomfort to the stone mine and timber mafia.