Jhabua: Uma ministers don’t meet victims, give Parivar a clean chit

Even DIG, Chambal Range, G.R. Meena, who had been rushed to Jhabua to calm the situation, had blamed organisations such as the Sewa Bharti and BJP for the violence in Alirajpur.

Blotting out their role, the report by ministers Kailash Vijaivargi and Kailash Chawla instead suggests a high-level inquiry to probe whether the violence was a conspiracy to malign the BJP before the Lok Sabha polls.

A claim by the DGP at Uma’s press conference that the man who died in the violence, Arjun Pal, was shot at from within the church has also not been rectified, though reports now suggest his vehicle was ambushed 2 km short of Amkut.The tension had erupted after reports came of a minor tribal girl being raped and killed on the premises of the Catholic Mission School in Jhabua on January 11. While the rapist is believed to be a Hindu, Sangh outfits had soon taken out processions hinting otherwise, even suggesting that sadhvis had been attacked from inside the church, leading to clashes at several places in the area. The local VHP chief had sat on a dharna outside the school, demanding the expulsion of all missionaries from the district. Sadhvis from Asaram Bapu’s ashram in Gujarat had entered the school compound and raised provocative slogans, even torn posters of Jesus in classrooms. Jhabua, where four nuns were gangraped some years ago, has always been a communal hotbed.

Even Vijaivargi admits that the violence in Amkut and Alirajpur was provoked by misinformation about the event. ‘‘Rumours were spread that two persons had been killed and two of the sadhvis had been raped. So several people, including Arjun Pal, rushed to Amkut.’’

Asked why they hadn’t met any Christian representative during their visit, Vijaivargi claimed: ‘‘When we went to Amkut almost the entire village was deserted. We spoke to whoever we could meet. In Alirajpur we did ask the sub-divisional magistrate to help us locate some of the Christian victims but it seems they had also fled their houses. We did speak to some Muslims.’’

In Jhabua proper, while the Christian priests were ready to talk, Vijaivargi admitted ‘‘we could not do so because our helicopter had to take off’’.

However, quiet contrary to the minister’s claim, when this correspondent visited Amkut the day after his visit, villagers seemed to be more than willing to talk. The victims clearly identified the perpetrators and at least in two cases, said they saw BJP MLAs at the site of the violence. As for Alirajpur, there was no questioning of inability to locate the victims as they have been locked inside the CNI church compound since the day of the violence.

A Hindu villager, Vijay Singh, told this reporter that when they requested the two ministers to see the destruction inside the Amkut church, they excused themselves.

Rajan Onkar, whose house is adjacent to the ambushed CNI church, says: ‘‘Even two days after the violence we have left things as they are in the church because leave alone ministers, not a single policeman has come to examine the damage, when the main thana is located barely 100 m away.’’

But that’s not surprising given the attitude of senior police officials. On the day the Christians were arrested, a senior officer said: ‘‘It is natural for the Hindus to be agitated, after all a child was raped and killed inside a mission school. The Christians should exercise restraint. We have to calm down Hindu sentiments so we are first arresting the Christians. I assure you that tomorrow those guilty from the Sangh Parivar will be arrested, we have already identified them.’’

IGP Indore P.L. Pandey had also promised that arrests would take place in due process. But with today’s report, that seems even more unlikely.