austraLasia 792
JHABUA, INDIA: FOLLOW-UP TO COMMUNAL VIOLENCE SITUATION
JHABUA: 20th January '04 -- Outside of India, the district of Jhabua may not have featured so much previously in people's thinking. They would have heard of Bhopal, certainly, and possibly of environmental issues in this part of Madhya Pradesh. The diocese of Jhabua is very new - erected only in March 2002. Its Bishop is Chacko Thottumarickal SVD. There are some 30,000 Catholics in an area with a population of over 4 million people, many of whom are tribals. As is the case elsewhere in India these days, especially under the national leadership of the BJP, missionaries (and read Christian missionaries for the most part) are under intense pressure and quite literally at times under fire if they are perceived as prosyletising and winning conversions.
That, effectively, is the background to the present communal unrest in Jhabua District and neighbouring Alirajpur. And the Salesian communities there are inevitably caught up in this.
The trigger point this time was the rape and murder of a nine year old Christian girl at the Jhabua Mission school. The Salesians run a hostel in Jhabua (Jyoti Bhavan Hostel), and it was there that Fr. Stanny Fereira was heading, by way of moral support, when set upon by rampaging mobs of tribals, but of a particular kind, given the background described above. They are referred to as the Saffron Brigade, or fundamentalists opposed to any hint of Christian conversion. Bishops, priests, Sisters and active Christian laity are very much their target.
From details now emerging, it would seem that one person is confirmed killed in the present spate of violence but it was not the one indicated in a BIS report. The BIS editor has now been able to clarify the details of the attack on Fr. Fereira's jeep. The mob fired on the vehicle and a burst tyre caused his vehicle to hit a cyclist who was injured. Subsequent head injuries to Fr. Fereira were caused by a mob beating. He is now safe and recovering, though his injuries are regarded as serious. The Salesian community in the area (based at Alirajpur) has not left the area but close monitoring of the situation could make that move a reality depending on how things go.
The Government Minister for the area was due to visit yesterday and has promised to bring matters under control. There is no denying, however, that the fundamentalist leanings of Government, and the inflamed nature of the local situation, make the circumstances dangerous and difficult. The 'priests' (any priests) are likely to be blamed by certain sectors of the population for any unrest and even for the initial situation despite the fact that the police have in custody the young person who has confessed to the rape and murder of the girl.
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