Dharamsthala Horror Whistleblower Alleges Mass Burials, Rape & Murder

今日印度原标题：达摩斯塔拉恐怖事件：举报人指控大规模掩埋、强奸与谋杀

Warning: This story contains references to murder and sexual assault which some readers may find disturbing.

警告：本文内容涉及谋杀与性侵相关描述，部分读者可能会感到不适。

Allegations concerning mass burials in the pilgrimage town of Dharamsthala, Karnataka, have emerged. A former sanitation worker has claimed he was forced to bury or burn hundreds of bodies, mostly of women and girls, between 1995 and 2014. In a statement recorded before a magistrate on July 11th, the whistleblower alleged he disposed of the bodies on the orders of the temple administration. He stated that, "while cleaning the Netravati river area, he started finding bodies, mostly women, some of whom appeared to have been allegedly raped and murdered." Following these revelations, the mother of a medical student, Sujata, who went missing in 2003, has approached the police. An FIR has been registered based on the whistleblower's complaint, but police are awaiting the magistrate's instructions to begin the investigation.
 
卡纳塔克邦朝圣小镇达摩斯塔拉传出大规模埋葬指控。一名前环卫工人声称，他于1995 至 2014 年间被迫掩埋或焚烧数百具尸体，其中多为妇女和女童。7 月 11 日该举报人在治安法官面前录制的证词中指控，他是按寺庙管理方指令处理尸体的。他陈述道："在清理内特拉瓦提河区域时，开始发现尸体——主要是女性，其中部分似乎曾遭强奸和谋杀。"这些揭露后，2003 年失踪的医学生苏加塔的母亲已联系警方。根据举报人投诉已登记立案，但警方正等待治安法官指示以启动调查。

How an Indian temple town is at the centre of hundreds of alleged murders

印度寺庙小镇如何成为数百起谋杀指控的中心

An ex-worker at Karnataka’s Dharmasthala temple says he was forced to bury hundreds of bodies, including children.

卡纳塔克邦达尔马斯塔拉神庙的一名前雇员称，他被迫掩埋了数百具尸体，其中包括儿童。

New Delhi, India – After spending three decades racked with guilt, scared on sleepless nights, and often changing cities, a 48-year-old Dalit man appeared in Karnataka with information about one of the most horrific alleged crimes in India.

印度新德里——一名 48 岁的达利特男子在经历三十年的内疚折磨、无数不眠之夜的恐惧以及频繁更换城市后，现身卡纳塔克邦，揭露了印度最骇人听闻的涉嫌犯罪案件之一。

Emerging from hiding after 12 years, the man, who once worked as a sanitation worker at the much-revered Dharmasthala temple, told police on July 3 that he was coming forward with “an extremely heavy heart and to recover from an insurmountable sense of guilt”. As a court-protected witness, the man’s identity cannot be revealed under the law.

这名曾在备受尊崇的达摩斯塔拉神庙担任清洁工的男子，在隐匿 12 年后于 7 月 3 日向警方自首。他表示自己是"怀着极其沉重的心情前来，为摆脱无法承受的负罪感"。作为受法庭保护的证人，根据法律规定其身份不得公开。

“I can no longer bear the burden of memories of the murders I witnessed, the continuous death threats to bury the corpses I received,” he said in his statement, reviewed by Al Jazeera, “and the pain of beatings – that if I did not bury those corpses, I would be buried alongside them”.

"我再也无法承受目睹谋杀的记忆、持续收到的埋尸死亡威胁，"他在半岛电视台获得的供述中表示，"还有那些殴打带来的痛苦——他们威胁说如果我不处理尸体，就会把我一起埋掉。"

Now, the whistleblower wants to help in the exhumation of “hundreds of dead bodies” he buried between 1995 and 2014 – many of them women and girls, allegedly murdered after sexual assaults, but also destitute men whose murders he claims to have witnessed.

如今，这名举报者希望协助挖掘 1995 至 2014 年间由他掩埋的"数百具尸体"——其中许多是遭受性侵后据称被杀害的女性及女童，还包括他声称亲眼目睹被谋杀的贫困男性。

After days of sustained pressure from activists and public outcry, the Karnataka government – ruled by the opposition Congress party – has created a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations of assault and murder.

在活动人士连日施压及公众强烈抗议下，由反对党国大党执政的卡纳塔克邦政府已成立特别调查组（SIT），对这些性侵谋杀指控展开调查。

So, what did the protected witness reveal in his complaint? Does the temple town have a history of rape and murder? Are more victims coming forward now?

那么，这位受保护的证人在投诉中揭露了什么？这座寺庙小镇是否有强奸和谋杀的历史？现在是否有更多受害者站出来？

‘Hundreds of bodies’: What’s in the complaint?

"数百具尸体"：投诉内容是什么？

Situated on the scenic lower slopes of the Western Ghats, Dharmasthala, an 800-year-old pilgrimage village, is located on the banks of the Nethravathi River in the Belthangady area of the Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka state, where nearly 2,000 devotees visit daily.

位于西高止山脉风景如画的山麓地带，有着 800 年历史的朝圣村庄达尔马斯特拉坐落在卡纳塔克邦南卡纳达县贝尔坦加迪地区的内特拉瓦蒂河畔，每天有近 2000 名信徒前来参拜。

On July 11, the man, fully draped in black clothing with only a transparent strip covering his eyes, appeared at a local court in Belthangady to record his statement.

7 月 11 日，这名全身裹着黑色衣物、仅眼部覆盖透明条带的男子出现在贝尔坦加迪地方法院录口供。

The complainant, who belongs to the Dalit community – the least privileged and often persecuted group in India’s complex caste hierarchy – joined the temple in 1995 as a sanitation worker.

这名来自达利特社区的投诉者——印度复杂种姓制度中最弱势且常受迫害的群体——于 1995 年以清洁工身份加入该寺庙。

At the beginning of his employment, he said in the complaint, he noticed dead bodies appearing near the river. “Many female corpses were found without clothes or undergarments. Some corpses showed clear signs of sexual assault and violence; injuries or strangulation marks indicating violence were visible on those bodies,” he noted.

他在投诉中称，入职初期就注意到河边频繁出现尸体。"许多女性尸体被发现时赤身裸体或没有内衣。部分尸体明显有性侵和暴力痕迹；可见施暴造成的伤痕或勒痕，"他特别指出。

However, instead of reporting this to authorities at the time, the man said he was forced to “dispose of these bodies” after his supervisors beat him up and threatened him, saying, “We will cut you into pieces; we will sacrifice all your family members.”

然而，这名男子表示当时并未向当局举报此事，而是在遭到主管殴打威胁后被迫"处理这些尸体"。据他回忆，对方曾恐吓道："我们会把你大卸八块，把你全家都献祭了。"

The supervisors, he claimed, would call him to specific locations where there were dead bodies. “Many times, these bodies were of minor girls. The absence of undergarments, torn clothes, and injuries to their private parts indicated brutal sexual assault on them,” he said. “Some bodies also had acid burn marks.”

他声称，主管会将他叫到发现尸体的特定地点。"很多时候，这些尸体都是未成年女孩。没有内衣、衣服被撕破以及私密部位受伤的痕迹，表明她们遭受了残忍的性侵，"他说，"有些尸体上还有酸液灼伤的痕迹。"

The man has told the police and the court that he is ready to undergo any tests, including brain-mapping and a polygraph, and is willing to identify the spots of mass burials. Some sites are likely to be exhumed in the coming days.

该男子已向警方和法庭表示，他愿意接受包括脑部测绘和测谎仪在内的任何检测，并准备指认集体埋葬地点。部分墓穴可能在未来数日内进行开掘。

In the nearly 20 years he worked at the temple, the man said he “buried dead bodies in several locations throughout the Dharmasthala area”.

这名男子表示，在寺庙工作的近 20 年间，他"在达尔马斯特拉地区多处地点掩埋过尸体"。

Sometimes, as instructed, he burned dead bodies using diesel. “They would instruct me to burn them completely so that no trace would be found. The dead bodies disposed of in this manner numbered in the hundreds,” he said.

有时，按照指示，他会用柴油焚烧尸体。"他们会命令我把尸体彻底烧毁，不留任何痕迹。以这种方式处理的尸体数量多达数百具，"他说道。

Why did he go into hiding?

他为何要躲藏起来？

By 2014, having worked there for 20 years, he said, “The mental torture I was experiencing had become unbearable.”

到 2014 年，他在那里工作了 20 年后表示："我所承受的精神折磨已变得无法忍受。"

Then, a girl from his own family was sexually harassed by a person connected to the supervisors at the temple, leading to a realisation that the family needed “to escape from there immediately”. In December 2014, he fled Dharmasthala with his family and informed no one of his whereabouts.

随后，他家族中的一名女孩遭到与寺庙管理者有关联者的性骚扰，这使他意识到全家必须"立即逃离此地"。2014 年 12 月，他带着家人秘密逃离达尔马斯特拉，未向任何人透露去向。

Since then, the family has been living in hiding in a neighbouring state, and changing residences, he said.

他说，自那以后，这家人一直躲藏在邻邦，并不断更换住所。

“However, I am still living under the burden of guilt that does not subside,” he said. “But my conscience no longer allows me to continue this silence.”

"然而，我仍背负着无法消散的负罪感生活，"他说。"但我的良知已不允许我继续沉默。"

To back his claims, the man recently visited a burial site and exhumed a skeleton; he submitted the skeleton and its photograph during exhumation to the police and the court via his lawyers.

为证实自己的说法，这名男子近日前往一处墓地挖出了一具骸骨；他通过律师向警方和法院提交了骸骨及其挖掘过程的照片。

Today, the actual number of dead bodies is not what matters to the former sanitation worker, a person closely associated with the case told Al Jazeera. They requested anonymity to speak.

一位与该案关系密切的消息人士向半岛电视台透露，对于这位前环卫工人而言，如今尸体的确切数量已无关紧要。因讨论敏感信息，该人士要求匿名发言。

“Even if it was just two or three women, and not hundreds, their lives matter,” they said, reflecting on why the whistleblower came forward. “If there is a chance at justice, their bodies getting proper rituals, we want to take it.”

"即便只有两三位女性，而非数百人，她们的生命同样重要，"他们说道，思索着举报人挺身而出的动机。"只要存在伸张正义的可能，让她们的遗体得到应有的仪式，我们就要抓住这个机会。"

Did he identify the victims?

他指认受害者了吗？

No, he did not identify them by name. However, he detailed some of the burials in his statement to the police.

不，他并未指名道姓。但在向警方提供的陈述中，他详细描述了几处埋尸地点。

He recalled that in 2010 he was sent to a location about 500 metres (1,640ft) from a petrol pump in Kalleri, nearly 30 kilometres (19 miles) from Dharmasthala. There, he found the body of a teenage girl.

他回忆道，2010 年曾被派往距 Dharmasthala 约 30 公里（19 英里）的 Kalleri 地区，在一处距离加油站约 500 米（1640 英尺）的地点发现了一具少女尸体。

“Her age could be estimated between 12 to 15 years. She was wearing a school uniform shirt. However, her skirt and undergarments were missing. Her body showed clear signs of sexual assault. There were strangulation marks on her neck,” he noted in his statement. “They instructed me to dig a pit and bury her along with her school bag. That scene remains disturbing to this day.”

"她的年龄估计在 12 至 15 岁之间。穿着校服衬衫，但裙子和内衣都不见了。尸体有明显性侵痕迹，颈部有勒痕，"他在陈述中写道。"他们命令我挖坑把她连同书包一起埋了。那个场景至今仍令人不安。"

He detailed another “disturbing incident” of burying a woman’s body in her 20s. “Her face had been burned with acid. That body was covered with a newspaper. Instead of burying her body, the supervisors instructed me to collect her footwear and all her belongings and burn them with her,” he recalled.

他详细讲述了另一起"令人不安的事件"——掩埋一名 20 多岁女性的尸体。"她的脸被酸液灼烧过。那具尸体用报纸盖着。主管们没有让我埋葬她，而是命令我收集她的鞋子和所有随身物品，连同尸体一起烧掉，"他回忆道。

Have similar crimes been lixed to Dharmasthala in the past?

过去是否有类似犯罪案件与达尔马斯塔拉有关？

Yes. There have been repeated protests over the years regarding the discovery of bodies of rape-and-murder victims in and around Dharmasthala, dating back to the 1980s.

是的。多年来，围绕达尔马斯塔拉及周边地区发现的强奸谋杀案受害者遗体，抗议活动屡屡发生，最早可追溯至 20 世纪 80 年代。

These protests have been sporadic but persistent, often led by local groups, families and political organisations.

这些抗议活动虽零星但持续不断，通常由当地团体、受害者家属及政治组织发起。

In 1987, marches were organised in the town to protest the rape and murder of 17-year-old Padmalata. The demonstrations exposed alleged cover-ups by influential figures but were reportedly quashed through intimidation and legal pressure.

1987 年，该镇曾组织游行示威，抗议 17 岁少女帕德玛拉塔遭强奸杀害案。示威活动揭露了权势人物涉嫌掩盖罪行的行为，但据报道遭到恐吓和法律施压的压制。

The town saw protests flare again in 2012 with the “Justice for Sowjanya” movement, after another teenager was raped and murdered. That case remains unsolved.

2012 年，随着"为索贾尼亚伸张正义"运动的爆发，这座小镇再次爆发抗议活动，起因是又一名少女遭强奸谋杀。该案件至今仍未侦破。

Over the decades, families and local political groups have held demonstrations and submitted memorandums to authorities, lixing cases such as the 2003 disappearance of medical student Ananya Bhat to larger allegations of mass graves and unnatural deaths.

数十年来，遇害者家属和地方政治团体不断举行示威并向当局提交请愿书，将 2003 年医学生阿南娅·巴特失踪案等案件与大规模乱葬岗及非正常死亡的更广泛指控联系起来。

S Balan, a senior lawyer in the Karnataka High Court and a human rights activist, told Al Jazeera that the killings and mysterious disappearances in Dharmasthala date back to 1979.

卡纳塔克邦高等法院资深律师兼人权活动家 S·巴兰向半岛电视台透露，达尔马斯特拉的杀戮和神秘失踪事件可追溯至 1979 年。

“The souls of young girls are crying for justice; hundreds of girls who disappeared were abducted, were raped, and were killed,” Balan told Al Jazeera. “India has never seen this gravity of offence in its republic after independence.”

"年轻女孩的灵魂在哭泣着寻求正义；数百名失踪少女遭遇绑架、强奸和谋杀，"巴兰对半岛电视台表示，"印度独立后的共和国历史上从未出现过如此严重的罪行。"

Balan also met the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah last Wednesday with a delegation of lawyers, urging him to form the SIT to probe the alleged mass rapes and murders.

巴拉兰上周三还与卡纳塔克邦首席部长悉达拉马亚会面，带领律师代表团敦促其成立特别调查组，以调查涉嫌的大规模强奸和谋杀案件。

“The chief minister was serious about it. He told us that he will talk to the police and do [what’s needed],” said Balan.

“首席部长对此事非常重视。他告诉我们，他会与警方沟通并采取[必要措施]，”巴兰说道。

How have the temple authorities reacted?

寺庙当局作何反应？

The administration of the Dharmasthala temple has long been controlled by the powerful Heggade family, with Veerendra Heggade serving as the 21st Dharmadhikari, or hereditary head, since 1968.

达尔马斯塔拉寺庙的管理权长期由显赫的赫加德家族掌控，自 1968 年起，维伦德拉·赫加德作为第 21 世世袭住持执掌庙务。

Heggade, a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian award, is a member of the parliament’s upper house. He was nominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2022.

赫加德是印度第二高平民荣誉"莲花赐"勋章获得者，现任联邦院议员，由总理纳伦德拉·莫迪领导的印度人民党于 2022 年提名。

His family wields significant influence in the region, overseeing a wide network of institutions.

该家族在地区内影响力深远，掌管着庞大的机构网络。

In 2012, the family came under public scrutiny following the rape and murder of 17-year-old Sowjanya, a resident of Dharmasthala. Her body was discovered in a wooded area bearing signs of sexual assault and brutal violence. Sowjanya’s family has consistently alleged that the perpetrators had ties to the temple’s leadership.

2012 年，17 岁少女索贾尼亚在达玛斯塔拉镇遭强奸谋杀后，其家人开始受到公众关注。受害者的遗体在一处林地被发现，尸体显示出遭受性侵和野蛮暴力的痕迹。索贾尼亚家人始终指控凶手与当地寺庙管理层存在关联。

In a statement shared on Sunday, July 20, the temple authorities expressed support for a “fair and transparent” investigation and expressed hope that the investigation would uncover the truth.

7 月 20 日周日，寺庙管理方在一份声明中表示支持"公正透明"的调查，并期待调查能揭露真相。

K Parshwanath Jain, the official spokesperson for Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala, said the whistleblower’s complaint has “triggered widespread public debate and confusion across the country”.

斯里·克谢特拉·达尔马斯塔拉官方发言人 K·帕什瓦纳特·耆那表示，举报人的投诉"在全国范围内引发了广泛的公众讨论和困惑"。

“In light of public demand for accountability, we understand that the state government has handed over the case to a Special Investigation Team,” he said. “Truth and belief form the foundation of a society’s ethics and values. We sincerely hope and strongly urge the SIT to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation and bring the true facts to light.”

"鉴于公众对问责的要求，我们了解到邦政府已将案件移交给特别调查小组，"他说。"真相与信仰构成社会道德与价值观的基石。我们诚挚希望并强烈敦促特别调查小组进行彻底公正的调查，让事实真相水落石出。"

Have the families of missing people come forward?

失踪人员的家属是否已经站出来发声？

Yes. Sujatha Bhat, the mother of Ananya Bhat, who disappeared in 2003, has responded publicly to the whistleblower’s shocking revelations about alleged mass burials in Dharmasthala.

是的。2003 年失踪的安雅娜·巴特的母亲苏加莎·巴特，已就举报人揭露达摩斯塔拉涉嫌大规模埋尸的惊人指控作出公开回应。

The 60-year-old retired CBI stenographer said she has lived in fear for more than two decades but was motivated by media reports of the worker’s testimony and the discovery of skeletal remains. She filed a new complaint with the police last Tuesday.

这位 60 岁的退休中央调查局速记员表示，二十多年来她一直生活在恐惧中，但媒体关于工人证词及骸骨发现的报道给了她勇气。她于上周二向警方提交了新的申诉。

Bhat said she believes her daughter may have been among the many women who faced abuse and met a violent end, only to be buried without a trace.

巴特认为，她的女儿很可能与许多遭受虐待后惨遭杀害、最终被悄无声息掩埋的女性一样遭遇不测。

She recalled that she was discouraged from pursuing the case further. “They told us to stop asking questions,” she reportedly said, emphasising the climate of fear and silence that surrounded Dharmasthala for decades.

她回忆说，当时有人劝阻她继续追查此案。"他们叫我们别再追问了，"据报道她这样说道，强调达摩斯塔拉地区数十年来笼罩着恐惧与沉默的氛围。

Speaking with reporters after filing the complaint, Bhat appealed: “Please find my daughter’s skeletal remains and allow me to perform the funeral rites with honour.”

在提交投诉后与记者交谈时，巴特恳求道："请找到我女儿的遗骸，让我能体面地为她举行葬礼。"

She said she wants to “give peace to Ananya’s soul, and let me spend my final days in peace”.

她说想"让阿南娅的灵魂安息，也让我平静地度过余生"。