States: Madhya Pradesh; All Hell Breaks Loose

While Christians seek protection, political parties have lost no time in politicising the attacks on the community.

The minuscule Christian community in Madhya Pradesh, just 0.7 per cent of the state's population, is in a state of shock. And missionaries who have been working in far-flung tribal areas and inaccessible jungles are numb with fear. Within days of the outrageous gang rape of three nuns at Navapada village in Jhabua district on the night of September 22-23, hooligans attacked yet another Catholic mission situated barely a few kilometres away. If that wasn't enough, on September 27 residents of a colony at Bhopal, egged on by a BJP MLA and some Bajrang Dal activists, attacked a mission, uprooting its boundary fencing. Says Madhya Pradesh Christians Association President Indra Iyengar: "Three attacks within a span of five days shows that someone has a hidden agenda."

DAYS OF FEAR

On September 22-23 night, three nuns are gang-raped and their mission looted by dacoits at Navapada in Jhabua district.

Four days later on September 26, bandits strike at a Catholic mission at Jamali, a few kilometres from Navapada.

On September 27, a mission in Bhopal is attacked by residents of a colony led by a BJP MLA.

As politicians trade charges and counter charges with talk of plots, the real issue of lawlessness in Jhabua and political interference in the day to day functioning of police has taken a back seat. Politicians as well as the administration are reluctant to admit that Jhabua, the land of the Bhil tribals, has always had a very high incidence of crime. The district has the highest rate of murders in the country, even more than the infamous Chambal valley. It is the only area in Madhya Pradesh where vehicles do not ply after sunset. If at all they do, they have to join the caravan sent by the police under armed escort. But even these caravans are sometimes looted. Armed bandits have attacked not only buses and trucks but also trains like the Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani Express passing through the area.

The situation has worsened in recent months with growing political interference. Jhabua has seen four SPs in the past 100 days. State BJP President Nand Kumar Sai alleges, "Three SPs were transferred because they had refused to abide by the wishes of the ruling party politicians." In August this year, 14 criminals broke out of Jhabua jail. Only a few days before the attack on the nuns took place, dacoits were running amok -- a village was raided, two temples and a bus looted, a trader robbed, a policeman shot, the district collector's office burgled and a nurse molested in a village.

The heinous gang rape of nuns at Navapada was the direct result of such lawlessness. In fact the police have pieced together evidence that suggests the motive of the armed assailants was not just robbery but also rape. Coming as it does on the eve of assembly election in Madhya Pradesh, the incident has caused consternation in the ruling Congress party. Even as Congress President Sonia Gandhi admonished Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, the BJP lost no time in demanding his resignation. Governor Bhai Mahavir stated this was one more example of the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. A visibly harassed Digvijay rushed to Jhabua, where he publicly apologised to the Christian community and ordered the police to provide security to missionaries living in inaccessible areas. "The law should be amended so that the culprits can be hanged," he announced.

But that the outlaws hardly took notice of the chief minister's spirited reaction speaks volumes of the grave law and order situation in the state. Barely 90 hours later, bandits struck again. This time at another Catholic mission in Jamali, about 11 km from the tehsil headquarters of Petlawad. After snapping the phone lines of the mission, they tried to break open the gate of the house with an axe. When that failed, they pelted stones. But as the mission is on the roadside, the assailants fled on hearing the sound of vehicles. The residents of the mission were so terrified that they locked themselves in. Close on the heels of this incident came the third attack on another Catholic mission, Asha Niketan, in the state capital. On September 27 the residents of Bhopal's Janta Colony uprooted the boundary fencing put up by Asha Niketan. Led by BJP MLA Shailendra Pradhan and some Bajrang Dal activists they complained that the missionaries had encroached upon public land which was reserved for a road in the area. However, the district administration says that the land belongs to Asha Niketan. The police have made three arrests so far, but the issue refuses to die down and there is tension in the area.

Meanwhile, Jhabua has become a sort of pilgrimage centre for politicians and busybodies. VIPs have started heli-hopping. So have inquiry teams of various organisations sent by the National Human Rights Commission, National Commission for Women, Madhya Pradesh Women's Commission and so on. Prem Singh, a resident of Kalyanpura, the gateway to Navapada village, says that on the first day he counted 107 vehicles going to the village. From the second day onwards the traffic of politicians became a virtual avalanche. The PWD has been pressed into service to build a temporary road.

In the aftermath of the incident at Jhabua, the most disturbed have been missionaries, who work in the remote areas of the state. On September 25, more than 200 nuns and priests led by 12 bishops reached Jhabua to inquire into the incident and lend moral support to the local parish. Educational institutions run by Christian missions were closed for a day to protest against the incident. Jhabua town also observed a bandh. The Christian community took out rallies all over Madhya Pradesh. Says George Anathil, the bishop of Indore: "We have received hundreds of calls in the past few days from people who want to show their solidarity."

Even as there is a wave of sympathy, there have also been ugly attempts to politicise the incident by the opposition BJP and the ruling party. BJP leaders say they have proof that the assailants were related to Congress MP Kantilal Bhuria, a close associate of Digvijay. Bhuria retaliated saying that the gang rape was part of a calculated plot to malign the Congress Government. The missionaries themselves do not believe in any "plot" theory. All they want is protection.

Although Christian missionaries working in Madhya Pradesh have come into conflict with the local administration and Hindu fundamentalists over the issue of conversions in the past, cases of violence against them have been few and far between in western Madhya Pradesh. The only recent case of violence was in 1995 when Rani Maria, a nun from Kerala working in Dewas district, was pulled out of a bus in broad daylight and stabbed to death. Priests and nuns working in deep, remote jungles had never felt unsafe before. But Jhabua and the incidents that followed have shown that the missionaries will have to learn that fear is not just a state of mind. It could be the pounding of doors in the middle of the night.