Skip to main content

Suspicious death of Adivasi hockey girls: Hundreds protest cop ‘inaction’ in Jharkhand

By Our Representative
Hundreds of people gathered at Simdega, Jharkhand, to protest against alleged lapses in police investigation into the death of two young Adivasi girls, who were hockey players. The protest on October 19 was organised by the National Federation of Indian Women in association with several other civil rights organisations.
These included the Adivasi Women’s Network, Bagaicha, the National Human Rights Organization (NHRO), the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) Watch, the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), the United Milli Forum, and several organizations associated Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha.
On August 11, two young girls, Shradhha Shalini Soreng (14 years) and Sunandini Bage (23 years), were found dead, hanging from a tree in Arani village of Simdega district. The girls were promising hockey players. The girls stayed with a person Mary Purty in Rourkela who had promised coaching help to them.
Shradha’s father Rajesh Soreng, addressing the gathering, said that from the beginning itself, before starting the investigation, the police claimed that it was a suicide. The police kept telling the family that they met the coach and had found that Shradha was not a ‘nice’ girl.
Cops claimed, they had come to know that both the girls were in a homosexual relationship. And hence they were convinced that it was a suicide. They verbally abused the family members several times regarding Sharadha’s “bad” behaviour. They kept saying, “Aapki beti gande-gande kaam karti thi”.
Sunandini’s mother said, the parents were not aware of any homosexual relationship between them, adding, they were convinced that it was not a suicide but a murder, and the coach was involved in their deaths.
A neighbour of Shradha, who had seen her grow up from her childhood, said that she was a dedicated sportswoman. Three days before the incident, Shradha and her daughter had met, the neighbour continued. Shradha was cheerful. She went to Rourkela to inquire into the case and found that neighbours of the coach thought she was involved in sexual exploitation of the girls at her place.
President of the gram sabha, where the girls were found hanging, said that the police did not wait for any witness before taking the bodies down from the tree. He added, the cops did not conduct field investigation after the death. They did not even talk to people of that village. Several other people of Shradha’s and Sunandini’s village said that the police was threatening the victims’ family members and trying to falsely build a case of suicide.
NFIW’s Taramani Sahu, who was part of a civil society fact-finding team that inquired into the incident, addressing the dharna, said that the local police had threatened the family members not to talk to civil society inquiry teams.
There were several loose ends in the investigation by the police. Just based on the testimony of one girl Pushpa Lohar (14-years old, also stayed at the coach’s residence), the police developed a story of suicide driven by a homosexual relationship.
Sahu said, eye witnesses near the site of the incident had seen that the girls were followed by a bike and a car. Regina Xalxo, one of members of the inquiry team, added, the coach initially refused to talk to them when they went to her place.
The coach was not able to tell the team about details about her coaching engagements. James Herenj of the NREGA Watch, said that Simdega police was trying to create a false story of suicide because if they declare it to be a murder, then questions will be raised on their own functioning.
At the end of the dharna, the protesters submitted a memorandum addressed to the governor to the local administration demanding
  • Form a Special Investigation Team to conduct fresh and through probe into the death, possibility of murder and inquire the allegations against the coach
  • Stop character assassClick ination of the victims 
  • Take action against the police officials responsible for the lapses in investigation, for building a false case of suicide and for character assassination of the victims
---
Click HERE for fact-finding report

Comments

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani*  A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid*  We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

40,000 Odisha adolescent girls ask CM: Why is scheme to fight malnutrition on paper?

By Our Representative  In unique a postcard campaign to combat malnutrition, aimed at providing dietary diversity, considered crucial during adolescence, especially among girls, signed by about 40,000 adolescent girls from over 10,000 villages, have reminded Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik that his government's Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), which converged with Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman  ( POSHAN ) 2.0 in 2021, is not being implemented in the State.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das  Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.