Govt still looking into Gloriavale India outpost

| Greymouth Star | Laura Mills |

Various government agencies are still looking into the Gloriavale Christian Community’s outpost in India.

In the TVNZ ‘docuseries’ Escaping Utopia, which screened in March, former Gloriavale members visited a lady who moved to India seven years ago and now has six children. She was among five women born in Gloriavale, who had mothered children in India.

Deborah Manning, a specialist in refugee, immigration and human rights law, raised concerns with the tv programme of trafficking under the Crimes Act, as well as alleged coerced marriage.

There are conflicting reports over whether the women can access their passports.

After the show went to air, a cross-agency group was tasked with looking into the Indian outpost.

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment national manager investigations Jason Perry said yesterday it continued to work alongside its partner agencies.

“It takes time to fully investigate a case and achieve an ideal conclusion. To protect the integrity of our processes, we are unable to provide further detail on any ongoing investigations.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said: “We continue to liaise with other government agencies as required”.

A Gloriavale spokesman said in March it was in constant contact with its brethren in India and had heard no complaints from them.

“Our New Zealand women who went to India and married there did so of their own free will and with the convictions they had in their own hearts. Some of those people have also returned to New Zealand with their families, and then gone back to India. Family relatives from New Zealand also visit them regularly.”

During the documentary, Gloriavale leaver Theophila Pratt spoke to Faithful Stronghold, the leader of Gloriavale’s outpost in rural India.

He asked why her sister Precious had come to India and she told him she had concerns for her sister and her nieces, and did not want them to experience any sexual abuse.

“What is rape? Raping happens from one side,” Mr Stronghold responded.

“Indian men are very forceful around women. It’s part of the culture and there’s a lot of Indian men who force themselves on to a lot of women because of a shortage of ladies in India. There are times these ladies have struggled because of India, culture, Indian men. So a lady’s life is much harder than men’s — it always is, it always will be.”