Daijiworld Media Network
Ranchi, Nov 17: Sr Valsa john (53), who had been successfully leading a crusade against the brutality of coal miners, and had succeeded in enabling the rural folk to assert their rights and claim compensation towards allowing miners to operate in the villages, was done to death on the night of Tuesday November 15.
Since 1995, she was leading an agitation under the banner, ‘Rajmahal Pahar Bachao Andolan’ under which the local tribals protested against forcible acquisition of their lands for Pachuara coal project undertaken by Punjab State Electricity Board and Eastern Mineral Trading Company jointly. The nun, who used to stay in a rented accommodation in Pachuara village in Pakur district in Jharkhand, was dragged out at around 10.30 pm by a gang. The gang members then attacked her indiscriminately with lethal weapons, resulting in her instant death, it is gathered.
The gang fled the scene of crime thereafter. The policemen have recovered a poster hailing Maoists from the spot, but they suspect that the poster was left behind to mislead the investigators. The policemen, who believe that Sr Valsa was killed because of her anti-miners stance, have however, also been investigating the murder from the angle of the naxal involvement as they don’t want to take chances. Director general of police, G S Rath, has evinced personal interest in the investigation, police sources revealed. Rath said that the policemen have found that some villagers disliked the style of functioning of Valsa. He also felt that the murder was not executed by Maoists.
Valsa had succeeded in making the coal mining company agree to pay the compensation the agitators were demanding, in December 2006. The compensation package included cost of land and also alternative land for the displaced, job for the family members, free schooling and health centre for them. One of the theories making the rounds in the district is that a section of the tribals villagers had developed a grudge against her, as they felt she was successfully lured by the coal mining lobby while signing the 2006 agreement. This theory, however, does not seem credible enough, as former deputy Chief Minister of the state, Stephen Marandi, in the presence of whom the pact was signed, said that this is not true.
Marandi insists that the murder was backed by people who failed to dictate their terms during the above negotiations because of the support Valsa enjoyed in the region. He said Sr Valsa had to pay the price for fighting for the rights of the tribal people. He asserted that she had not deserted her followers as alleged by some people.
Cardinal Telesphore P Toppo has demanded swift investigation into the murder of Sr Valsa, who belonged to the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary Congregation. She worked for the welfare of the people belonging to a place which is far away from her home in Kerala, and her murder is a shameful development for the entire state, he remarked.
Panem Coal Mines Ltd, which has been undertaking mining in the area, has also been facing the ire of the local people. Its former executive director, D Saran, and assistant mines manager, Sheetal Prasad, were shot at and murdered by three men in Pahar during October 2009. The company’s operations are being disliked by some local people.