Police Rapes, Acquittals and False Accusations

Police Rapes, Acquittals and False Accusations Highlight Christians' Vulnerability in India

By Jeremy Reynalds, Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service (jeremyreynalds@gmail.com )

RAIPUR, INDIA (ANS-January 23, 2017) -- The acquittal of two suspects in the gang rape of a Catholic nun, and a series of rapes by security forces in remote areas of the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh have highlighted the vulnerability of women from marginalized communities.

“If you are a woman tribal or from a minority, you are a second class citizen. Getting justice is very difficult,” Arun Pannalal, president of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum (CCF), told World Watch Monitor in a story by Anto Akkara .

The gang rape of the nun took place at a convent-run medical center in Raipur, the Chhattisgarh capital, on the night of June 20 2015. The 47-year-old nun was tied to a bed, force-fed drugs and sexually assaulted. She was found the next morning after failing to show up for morning prayers.

The two suspects – 19-year old Dinesh Dhurv and 25-year-old Jitendra Pathak – were acquitted on Jan. 3, the judge citing a “lack of evidence.”

Father Sebastian Poomattam, spokesperson of the Raipur Archdiocese, told World Watch Monitor the judge had described the investigation as “of the lowest grade and totally negligent,” bringing “no evidence though the rape was confirmed” and “even failing to identify the culprits.”

“The youths arrested and tried for the rape were not the real culprits. They are absolutely innocents. It was an attempt to cover up the crime. So the judgment is not surprising at all,” CCF President Arun Pannalal added.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Mumbai and president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, criticized what he called the “half-hearted attitude of the police” and dubbed the acquittals “a grave injustice not only for our consecrated (nuns), but also for all women who have suffered a similar trauma.

“This acquittal once again brings to our attention the problem of violence against women. It is a huge setback for all of us working for the rights and dignity of women, in particular victims of violence,” he added.

Two months after the incident – when no suspects had yet been arrested – the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) criticised Chhattisgarh’s police, following protests by Christian groups. The NHRC said the state’s police chief had made “hasty and irresponsible” statements.

Pannalal said the police had persuaded the nuns to burn the victim’s clothes, rather than taking them as evidence, telling them the clothes would remind them of the incident.

Compensation for Victims of Police Rape

“It is extremely difficult for women from the marginalised communities to get justice,” Shalini Gera, an associate of People’s Union for Civil Liberties, which documented the assaults on the tribal women, told World Watch Monitor.

Gera said her organisation had filed complaints with the NHRC on behalf of 34 assaulted women – 17 of whom were raped – after police tried “to whitewash” the crimes. Of these, she said the NHRC has passed judgment in 18 cases so far, as the investigators have not yet met the other victims. At least two of the victims were Christians.

“What worries us is the pattern in all these assaults on tribal women,” she said. “The assaults are not one-offs. They took place in three areas over three months in two districts. It is a structural problem.”

Daya Bai, a well-known secular social activist based in the troubled Baxar district, where most of reported rapes took place, said “justice is a mirage for women from vulnerable sections (of society).”

“I am myself fighting a case of the murder of a high-school girl that has been passed off as suicide. Nothing has happened in this case so far, as the victim is from a Dalit family,” she said.

Priest, Nun Acquitted

Meanwhile, on Jan. 10, a trial court acquitted a Catholic priest, nun and female hostel attendant who had been accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl – also in Chhattisgarh in Sept. 2015. (The nun’s rape had been in June, three months before).

The Chhattisgarh Citizens’ Joint Action Committee, which was formed to pursue justice for the rape of the nun, said in a statement that it “welcomes this decision.”

“The accuser – a minor 10-year-old girl – could not identify any of the accused, Father Joseph Dhanaswami, Sister Christo Maria and Philomina Kerketta,” the statement read.

Father Poomattam said the accusations had been “fabricated” by Hindu nationalists in retaliation for the strong protests by the Church against police inaction over the nun’s rape.

“Now the truth has come out,” World Watch Monitor reported he said.

Who Are the Dalits?

Dalit means “trampled upon,” and refers to people in low castes who are treated as ‘untouchables” in caste-ridden Indian society. Dalits are a mixed population, living all over the country, speaking a variety of languages and practicing numerous religions.

World Watch Monitor said they often grind out a living working menial jobs such as scavenging while living segregated from upper castes in rural areas.

In pockets of southern Tamil Nadu state, for example, Dalits are not allowed to walk in upper-caste areas. In roadside eateries in neighboring Karnataka state, Dalits may be required to squat on the floor and eat from dishes kept separate from those provided to upper-caste customers, who sit on chairs.

A 1950 law listed Hindu Dalits as “Scheduled Caste,” which made them eligible for free education and set aside jobs in government and seats in state legislatures to improve their status.

World Watch Monitor said the privileges were extended to Sikh Dalits in 1956, and to Buddhist Dalits in 1990. They are not available to Muslim and Christian Dalits.

Dalits account for two-thirds of India's Christian population, who number more than 80 million, or 7 per cent of India's total population, by some estimates.

In a separate judgement on 6 January, the NHRC ordered that compensation be paid to 16 women who were raped or sexually assaulted by security forces between Oct. 2015 and March 2016 in remote villages in Chhattisgarh.

Eight women who were raped were each awarded Rs 300,000 (US $4,000), six women who were sexually assaulted were each awarded Rs 200,000 ($3,000), and two women who were physically assaulted were each awarded Rs 50,000 ($730).

For more information visit www.worldwatchmonitor.org

Photo captions: 1) Indian nuns 2) A protester holds a placard during a rally by hundreds of Christians against persecution in the country. (Reuters/Danish Siddiqui). 3) Dan Wooding with India’s most famous nun, Mother Teresa in Calcutta back in 1975. 4) Jeremy and Elma Reynalds.

About the writer: Jeremy Reynalds, who was born in Bournemouth, UK, is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, a freelance writer and also the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, www.joyjunction.org. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. One of his more recent books is “From Destitute to Ph.D.” Additional details on the book are available at www.myhomelessjourney.com. His latest book is "Two Hearts One Vision." It is available at www.twoheartsonevisionthebook.com. Reynalds lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wife, Elma. For more information, please contact Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@gmail.com .

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