In a statement obtained by BosNewsLife, the evangelical mission group Salem Voice Ministries (SVM) said the human remains of 36-year-old Chellarian Rita were discovered Friday, October 19, in Pazhayangadi, a small township several kilometers (miles) north of Kerala’s Kannur town,
The group said it had learned from local police that, "She died because of serious head wounds." Her clothes were completely teared, apparently because she was raped, SVM said.
SVM President Paul Ciniraj condemned the slaying of Rita and asked the government "to find the murderers and arrest them immediately." He said, "Rita was brutally raped and killed. She is a victim of Dalit Christian persecution. The murders must not have any kindness from the police, court, and government."
RAPED AND MURDERED
The woman was apparently raped and murdered after she left home to go to a local shop to purchase rice. When she did not return, relatives and local residents searched for her throughout the night, Christians said.
Rita’s husband, Jose Madakkudiyan, eventually informed police and the next morning locals found scattered rice at the roadside near a public graveyard, according to SVM investigators.” After sometime they found the dead body in a thicket of shrubs’ at the valley of the nearest hill."
Police also discovered a liquor bottle along with "scattered rice”, near the scene of the crime, SVM added. Officials have visited the area, but on Monday, October 23, no suspect was apparently arrested.
Rita and Jose were married for 14 years ago. They don’t have children, SVM said. Her murder underscored growing concerns about reported cases of persecution of Dalit Christians, including rape and murders. Dalits are the lowest cast in India’s ancient system of Hinduism and militants have expressed outrage about the spread of Christianity within this impoverished community.
CATHOLICS MOURN
News of the murder came as elsewhere in Kerala, Catholics mourned the deaths of two nuns of the Congregation of Teresian Carmelites in the town of Kottayam. Sister Magi, also known as Margurette Mary, 31, and Sister Reshmi, or Thresiamma Thomas, 34, were killed when bricks fell on their heads from 20 meters (60 feet) high late Sunday, October 21, SVM said.
The incident reportedly happened when construction of a multi-store apparent complex was underway near the convent compound. Workers were "unloading the bricks through the lift. But at the fifth floor, the bricks slipped and fell down on the nuns, who were cleaning the convent and its surroundings," SVM said.
Their heads were smashed and both nuns died on the spots, investigators said. "Another sister Priya was also with them, but she miraculously escaped from the incident", SVM quoted ‘Sister Iros’, a member of the convent and the Principal of the adjacent Madonna English School, as saying.
Police have reportedly launched a criminal investigation into the practices of the building workers.
