Mulki – Mangalore (Kanataka): 7th April ’11: The incident reported earlier with regard to the Ebenezer Mercy Home in Mulki, near Mangalore, is unraveling itself as a well-planned conspiracy by the Sangh Parivar activists. The systematically planned story goes back to a few days earlier to Saturday, 2nd April, the day when the Women and Child Welfare Department officials and the Mulki police raided the Ebenezer Mercy Home situated on Haleangady- Pakshikere Road, and took into custody 28 children who were allegedly being ill-treated, and shifted them to the remand home. It is learnt now that a couple of days earlier to that a group Sangh Parivar activists had barged into the Mercy Home and threatened Pastor K.J Joy, his wife Elizabeth and their sons Joel and Joby that there had been complaints against them that they had been ill-treating the children and that there was also a complaint of sexual harassment of one of the children. They threatened them with dire consequences.

On Saturday morning,Child Welfare Department Officials led by Child Welfare Committee head, Asha Nayak, and assisted by CDPO Shyamala, Mulki Police Circle Inspector Shivaprakash Nayak, Police Sub Inspector Muniswamy Neelakanthan with a posse of police constables, raided the place and took charge of the children. It is also learnt that the police and some Sangh Parivar activists, the ZP Member, Ishwar Kateel, the Village Panchayat President Mahabala Salian and about 20 others, physically attacked and manhandled Pastor K.J.Joy and some of the staff members, on the alleged complaint that a 12 year old child, Elsa, was sexually harassed by them. All of them were arrested and kept in the police station till late into the night and after charge-sheeting under sections 245 and 506, were taken to the Magistrate in Mudubidri, who sent them to jail. On Sunday night they were shifted to the Mangalore Sub Jail, where, it is learnt that they were again badly man-handled. We understand that it was only after Prashanth Jathanna, the GCIC Coordinator and President of the Bharateeya Chraistara OKKoota, intervened and got in touch with the Jail Superintendent, that they were assured of some protection and safety in the jail.
Elsa, incidentally, has been an inmate of the Home for quite some time. She is the daughter of a widow, Kusuma, whose husband Venkatesh, is no more. Kusuma had put the child in the Mercy Home on her own decision, and the child was quite happy like all the rest of the children. On trying to find out the reason for the child to complain against Pastor Joy and others of sexually harassment, to their shock and surprise, they learnt that the Sangh Parivar activists had met and threatened the child that if she did not complain of sexual harassment, she would be kidnapped and killed. Out of sheer terror she had complained against her own dear guardians.
In the meantime, the CGIC advocate, Mr. Zakir, appeared on behalf of the accused before the Sessions Judge and got them released on bail on Tuesday, 5th April. It is also learnt that all the children too were sent back and returned to the Mercy Home.
On Wednesday, 6th morning, the terribly aggrieved Prashanth Jathanna and his co-workers held a public DHARNA in front of the very office of the Women and Child Welfare Department at Mulki, demanding justice to the innocent social workers and the NGOs in the district. They also had a Press Conference at the same place in which Elsa spoke about all that had transpired and how she was threatened with dire consequences if she did not cooperate with them and complain against Mercy Home staffers of sexual harassment. It is also learnt that the terribly embarrassed officials, both of the Police Department and of the Child Welfare, have apologized for their serious mistake.