Ranchi: In yet another incident of conversion and robbing of land of a tribal woman, a man identified as Nasim Ansari has been accused of converting, marrying and later abandoning a tribal woman of Santhal Pargana, an administrative division of the state of Jharkhand, lately in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.
According to the report, the victim lady identified as Shivni Marandi, a resident of Karmatand of Shikaripada area of Dumka was allegedly lured into an affair by Nasim who later took her to Rampurhaat of West Bengal. It was in Rampurhaat that Nasim got her converted and gave her a new identity as Shabnam Parveen.
The duo got married after Marandi’s conversion and had four children during their 11 years of association, though only two of them survived who are too currently residing with their mother as Nasim reportedly developed an affair with another woman leading to separation from Marandi.
As per the allegation labelled by Marandi, when she confronted Nasim about his latest affair with the other woman, he became furious and started behaving violently with her. The exploitation lasted till Marandi along with the two children were forcibly removed from the house by Nasim, who according to the victim has also robbed a piece of land procured by her by transferring the papers on his name.
Marandi has further disclosed that she also approached the villagers and call a panchayat over the matter though it failed to make any difference in Nasim’s behaviour despite he confessed about his mistakes before the villagers. It was only then that a helpless Marandi approached the senior officials of the police in Dumka, however no concrete action has so far been taken into her case.
शिवानी मरांडी बनी शबनम परवीन।
दुमका के शिकारीपाड़ा थाना क्षेत्र में आदिवासी महिला के साथ धर्मांतरण और लव जिहाद मामले को लेकर नसीम अंसारी के खिलाफ शिकायत की गई दर्ज। pic.twitter.com/2KOKYuTyhD
— News18 Jharkhand (@News18Jharkhand) September 6, 2024
Interacting with the News 18, the victim lady could be heard claiming that Nasim is now demanding her to transfer her ancestral property to his name, if she intend to live with him. She also has alleged Nasim for threatening her.
A pattern behind such cases in Santhal Division
It is worth mentioning here that this is not the only case where a tribal woman of the region is being allegedly lured into a love affair leading to her conversion and robbing of property. According to the Godda’s MP, Nishikant Dubey, the state of Jharkhand has been witnessing a flurry of such cases where the girls from the tribal community are becoming victim of conversion ultimately leading to transfer of their properties on the name of their husbands.
Interacting with the media during his recent visit to the areas of Santhal division hit by communal violence, Dubey disclosed that he will be launching an awareness campaign in Panchayats, villages (reserved for Scheduled Tribes) whose village heads, members of Panchayat Samiti, District Councils are from the ST community.
“I will be visiting those Panchayats, villages who has members of tribal community as their village heads, members of Panchayat Samiti and District Councils and whose husband are from the Muslim community. For the next five years, I will be visiting and running an awareness campaign in all of those villages who are having Jamai Tola (an area within the village inhabited by those outsiders who have married with a woman of the tribal community, as claimed by many). Our campaign will continue against those who have encroached the land of tribal and converted them.”
ये घुसपैठिए , भारत आते ही अपने पॉपुलेशन को बढ़ाते हैं, अपने धर्म को बढ़ाते हैं, अपने खान – पान को बढ़ाते हैं, अपने कल्चर को बढ़ाते हैं, माइनॉरिटी से कब मेजोरिटी बन जाते हैं आपको पता भी नहीं लगेगा, और यही सब भारत की एकता और अखंडता पर सबसे बड़ा ख़तरा है । pic.twitter.com/DOeEgMLpbL
— Dr Nishikant Dubey (@nishikant_dubey) August 13, 2024
Changing demography in Santhal division and dwindling of tribal population
It must be noted that the figures pertaining to respective census between 1951 to 2011 indicates a sharp decline in percentage of tribal community in overall population of Santhal, which encompasses Deoghar, Godda, Dumka, Jamtara and bordering district of Sahibaganj and Pakur districts. The region is suspected to have a large concentration of illegal Bangladeshis infiltrators.
Notably, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) claiming influx of illegal infiltration into the area along with a pattern behind surge in such marriages has also been filed before the Jharkhand High Court, hearing on which the court had instructed the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of all the districts of Santhal Division to submit a written affidavit about the status of infiltrators before the court while directing the union government and concerned agencies such as Intelligence Bureau, Border Security Force for a similar response.
In the latest hearing into the matter on September 5, while the union government has requested for time for filing a consolidated report over the infiltration issue, the state government in its reply filed in the previous hearing had denied any such infiltration, prompting an oral observation from the High Court’s bench that a case of contempt will be filed, if the reply submitted by the state turned out to be untrue.
Significantly, the issue of infiltration and its ramifications on Santhal division has been taken up aggressively by the opposition leaders lately, who have been accusing the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) led coalition government for going soft against the alleged infiltrators for the sake of appeasement politics. However, despite continuous campaigns run by the prime opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the JMM led coalition have categorically denied such allegation by terming it a political stunt to do polarisation of the voters in the upcoming state assembly polls.
