UPDATE: Dec. 29, 2016:
India’s Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, publicly tweeted today that she will look into the case of Narges Ashtari. In her tweet, she writes that she has asked for a report from the Government of Odisha, an eastern Indian state where Ashtari is being held for a manslaughter conviction. Supporters of Ashtari have been pleading Swaraj to review her case. She has been granted an appeal and is awaiting her next court appearance.
PREVIOUS STORY: Dec.8, 2016:
Twenty-eight-year-old Narges Ashtari left her comfortable life in Canada six years ago and moved to rural India to help orphans. She never imagined she would end up accused of killing one of the children she dedicated her life to aiding.
“Scared obviously, shocked, it’s unbelievable,” she said from her home in India as she awaits the end of her bail, an appeal hearing and prison in less than two weeks.
“I don’t know what to do,” she added.
On Dec. 5, Ashtari was convicted of manslaughter after a child vanished from a picnic hosted by her charity foundation. The child’s body was never found. Ashtari was sentenced to a year in jail and was fined $6,000 CDN by the Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) court in Rayagada.
The 28-year-old humanitarian lived in the United Kingdom before moving to Canada and now, her friends and family in Vancouver are rallying to help clear her name.
Ashtari is well-known in Vancouver’s Iranian community. She appeared on local Iranian TV news for her charity work. Some in the community call her the ‘Iranian mother Theresa.’
Her brother, Amir, who still lives in Vancouver, said he “couldn’t sleep all night” after learning of the conviction.
Vancouver resident Erica Dentinger met Ashtari seven years ago. Dentinger started the Justice for Narges-Vancouver Facebook group and organized a rally outside the Indian consulate in Vancouver on Dec. 12. Along with the rally and messages of support, hundreds of thousands of people are signing a petition on change.org.
“She lives to help children and give them better lives,” Dentinger said. “She gave up a life in Vancouver, close to her brothers and aunt. She gave up security and safety, to live among strangers in a foreign country who speak a foreign language, all to help children who were orphans like her.”
Ashtari lost both her mother and father at a very young age. In 2010, she set up the Prishan Foundation, to help orphan girls and blind children in India’s state of Odisha. The state is traditionally known for its tribal culture, poverty and corruption. Things changed for Ashtari two years ago when the son of one of her coworkers died at the foundation’s picnic.
According to the public prosecutor, Sachidanand Khardanga, Ashtari and her associates took six children bathing in the Nagabli River where they were accidentally washed away. He says five were rescued except for Aseem Jilakara, who could not be found. The prosecution says there was a strong current in the river that day and blames Ashtari for organizing the picnic in that area. The parents of the young child were also by the river, but Khardanga said the head of the foundation should be held responsible for Jilakara’s death and alleges it was negligence on Ashtari’s part.
Ashtari denies these claims and said there is “absolutely no evidence whatsoever, there was no proper investigation, and no body found.” She alleges the parents pressed ahead with a charge of manslaughter because she refused to pay a bribe to them and the local police. The defence counsel says the child was not an orphan under the care of the Prishan Foundation and that his parents should be held responsible.
The parents and a relative of the child presumed drowned testified in court, claiming they saw Ashtari and some of her colleagues forcibly bathe some of the children in the river. The father, Peter Jilakara, says he jumped into the river to rescue his boy.
Other court witnesses do not support those allegations. One of those witnesses, Rajesh Kadraka, testified that Ashtari had “no involvement” in the alleged incident. The judge declared Kadraka and those other witnesses as ‘hostile’ and concluded that “nothing substantial could be elicited from them.”
According to court documents obtained by Global News, there were some ‘discrepancies’ and ‘exaggerations’ on the part of the parents. However, the court concluded that since the parents are from a rural area, “exaggerations are bound to occur in such truthful witnesses.”
Ashtari believes she is the victim of a corruption scandal.
A few months prior to being accused of manslaughter, Ashtari was working with a non-governmental agency and began questioning its business tactics. She says she exposed that organization and some of its members and claims those people ended up in jail based on evidence she uncovered. She alleges the parents of the child at the centre of this case were bribed.
Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia Director for Human Rights Watch, speaking in general terms said, “when journalists and activists highlight corruption cases…they have been targeted.” According to Ganguly, it can sometimes backfire and result in the journalist or activist being accused of a criminal action.
Ganguly says in situations where officials are not doing their jobs, either through incompetency or corruption, those who expose them have come under scrutiny by authorities.
Gurpeet Badh, a Canadian lawyer, who used to practise in India, said he’s not surprised with the conviction.
“The trial courts are so overburdened that most of the time, justice doesn’t get served,” said Badh. “The police in India are infamous for tampering with evidence and witnesses. Corruption is rife, which allows the police to intimidate witnesses and structure their cases to suit their investigation, which is shoddy most of the time.”
Badh also added there is hostility towards charity workers from the West and there is systemic targeting of these charities and their workers. Ashtari was born in Iran, but grew up in the U.K. and later moved to Vancouver.
Ashtari is currently out on bail and making an appeal to a higher court.
Dentinger said there is “not a chance that Ashtari could ever do something like that to anyone, especially not a child. She lives to help children and give them better lives.”
As for Ashtari, her message is simple.
“No matter what happens to me, I really don’t want it to happen to someone else.”
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