A missing persons case filed in January 2022 in the Sahibganj district of Jharkhand has been solved with the arrest of Arbaaz Alam, his wife Rehina Beevi, Sahil Ansari and another associate.

After fourteen months, it has been learnt that the missing janjatiya (‘tribal’) girl, Sushila Hansda, was killed by the accused after she resisted their human trafficking attempt. As per a report published by Aaj Tak, the case pertains to a human trafficker named Arbaaz Alam, who first trapped a woman from a janjatiya community in love jihad and then called her to his house promising to marry her.

There, the girl came to know about Alam’s intention of selling her for Rs 50,000. When she protested, Alam and his associates cold-bloodedly murdered her and set her body on fire.

The victim, Sushila Hansda, was a 26-year-old girl hailing from Sanjodi village under the Barhet police station area of Sahibganj. Arbaaz insisted she come to Dumka, and she departed on January 11, 2022 from her home stating that she was going to meet her friend Pramila in Dumka. But she never returned.

Her brother Jonas lodged a missing complaint with police and told of Sushila’s plan to meet Pramila. But when police contacted Pramila, they found Sushila had never met her. Then Jonas told police that Sushila had mentioned one Arbaaz Alam, originally a resident of the Palojori police station area in the Deoghar district.

Police started investigating Alam, and tracked him and his wife to Kerala. They were arrested, and two trafficked girls were recovered from them. Alam’s wife Rehina Bibi was earlier named Mislata Tudu, i.e. she was from a janjatiya (ST) community herself before converting to Islam and joining hands with her human trafficker husband to prey on innocent girls from her own community. It has come to light that Arbaaz has victimized several girls in the past.

After probing the arrested couple, police found out that Sushila’s brutal murder was carried out by Arbaaz Alam, Rehina Beevi alias Mislata Tudu, Sahil Ansari, and Priyanka Murmu on 12 January, 2022. Later, the accused took Sushila’s body by motrorcyle to the forest near Payaddih village, Shikaripada police station area of Dumka district, sprinkled petrol and set it on fire.

Priyanka Murmu also appears to be a janjatiya person; this is a sign that Islamism is spreading like a cancer in janjatiya-dominated parts of Jharkhand, and janjatiya women themselves are being now lured to prey on other girls from their vulnerable communities.

After evading capture for over an year, Arbaaz Alam, his wife and other human trafficking associates were finally arrested by the Jharkhand Police. All accused have been sent to judicial custody.

Senior BJP leader Babulal Marandi, who was the first CM of Jharkhand, is one of the few leaders who has been talking vocally about the Islamist predation of janjatiya people, especially girls. He had raised his voice when Ankita Singh was burnt alive by her stalker Shahrukh Hussain in August last year, and when a minor Santhal girl was raped and murdered by Arman Ansari a month later. Both of those crimes took place in the same Dumka district.

Tweeting on this latest atrocity by Islamist sexual predators and traffickers, Babulal Marandi commented that Santhal Pargana area of Jharkhand is turning into a safe zone for such Love Jihadis, who also trap girls for human trafficking. He pointed out that Sushila belonged to the same assembly constituency which Hemant Soren, the state’s chief minister, represents.

He rued that even some local women are getting involved in this racket, and alleged that the roots of these Love Jihad and Land Jihad conspiracies run deep and may even have links to international organizations.

It is notable that Dumka and Pakur districts of Jharkhand are right on the West Bengal border & under 100 km from Bangladesh. Local vanvasi groups have been complaining for long that Islamist outfits like PFI are using grooming jihad to trap vanvasi girls for marriage and to acquire their land. Pakur is a known PFI stronghold.

Santhal Pargana is one of the divisions of Jharkhand. Its headquarters is at Dumka. Presently, this administrative division comprises six districts: Godda,  Deoghar,  Dumka,  Jamtara,  Sahibganj  and Pakur.