Church leaders gun for ‘utter lie’ on Christian persecution

New Delhi, April 16: Christian leaders today condemned Narendra Modi’s statement in a television interview last week that he was unaware of any attacks on members of the community and their places of worship in India.

“What he said was an utter lie. The onslaught against Christians by Right-wing groups has always been cause for concern. The Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, has been attacking members of the Christian community and vandalising churches across India,” said Richard Howell, general secretary, Evangelical Fellowship of India, which represents about 45 thousand churches across the country.

Expressing shock and dismay at Modi’s statement, the community leaders said the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate cannot win their trust if he feigns ignorance about their sufferings.

“How can he forget the gruesome attacks on tribal Christians in Gujarat’s Dangs district in 1998 during the NDA regime when members of the Right-wing cadres burnt down churches? Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then Prime Minster, himself had visited the district to take stock of the situation,” Howell told a news conference in Delhi today.

He said 22 churches were burnt in 2002 in Gujarat and several members of the community were attacked by VHP cadres. The VHP is part of the Sangh parivar.

Replying to a question from a member of the audience who asked him what steps he would take to ensure no churches are broken down if he becomes Prime Minister, Modi said: “I have never heard of such incidents taking place.”

Vijayesh Lal, national director, Religious Liberty Commission, said Christians continue to be attacked and their places of worship are being vandalised over the past few years in states like Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh.

“Surprisingly, Modi pretends to be ignorant and unaware about such attacks on Christians. If this is the case then why should we trust his promises of a secular India as mentioned in the BJP’s election manifesto,” he asked.

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Kandhamal, Five Years Later: Why The Silence?

http://www.countercurrents.org/sasi250813.htm

By K.P. Sasi

25 August, 2013
Countercurrents.org

What is it that makes human beings express more violence than animals? This is certainly a significant question we may ask in our journey called life. While the animals express violence for food, protection of territory and out of fear, which the human species also do on a much larger scale, the most brutal expressions of violence by the human beings can shame and shock the brutes themselves. This is the only species which can kill hundreds, thousands or millions on the basis of their ideologies, world view, belief systems, political power, economic power, power of social and cultural identities and the need to control nature. In that sense, unfortunately, we belong to the most insecure and violent species on this planet and it is because of this insecurity that we took extreme pride of being part of an identity called `human beings’. On this day of August 25, 2013, which rightfully should have been observed as a Khandamal Day nationally and internationally and unfortunately being ignored by this largest democratic, secular and sovereign State called India, it may be more appropriate to begin with our own limitations – our own silence which became the cause and effect of any large scale violence expressed in history.

It is five years since the major violence took place in Khandamal on August 25, 2008. It was the biggest anti-Christian violence in Indian history and the biggest communal violence in Orissa. The organized violence started in 2007. More than 600 villages in Khandamal district alone were attacked and 5600 houses were looted and burnt. Around 54,000 people became homelss and thousands fled the region out of fear. Over 100 people were killed, including women, children, disabled and the old. Women were raped and subjected to sexual assault. 295 churches were destroyed. 13 schools colleges, and offices of non-profit organizations were destroyed. Dalit Christians and Adivasi Christians were forcefully converted to Hinduism, though there is no tradition to convert from other religions to Hinduism, since the caste identity in Hinduism comes from birth only. All those who were converted into Hinduism at the axe-point are back into their own faith in Christianity today. Education of more than 10,000 children were disrupted and many of them still live with mental trauma. There were no proper systems of counseling.

After five years, when you look back, you will find that the rehabilitation process and compensation to the victims are not properly or adequately carried out. Most of those who are responsible for this gruesome communal crime are still to be punished. People are still waiting for justice. Thus Kandhamal remains as a blot on India’s secular image.

The question why Kandhamal happened is not much different from why the communal fascist genocide happened in Gujarat. The process of years of preparations for violence in both Gujarat and Kandhamal was similar. Teesta Setelvaad had warned years before both Gujarat communal violence and the Kandhamal communal violence that the preparations for violence is going on in both these places, in her famous magazine called Communalism Combat. These warnings were not sufficiently heard by the activists. The disaster of communal violence in Gujarat and Kandhamal could have been reduced to a certain extent if such warnings were discussed right from the initial stage of preparations for violence.

However, there is a difference between the situations of Kandhamal and Gujarat. There was still a small crowd who tried to speak out and act against the violence in Gujarat. There were feminists, trade unions, various shades of left and secular forces, civil liberties organizations, NGOs, Christian organizations with people like Fr. Cedric Prakash, secular Muslim figures like Prof. Bandookwalah, a small section of film/media internet activists to respond right from the initial stages. The social context in Kandhamal did not have this luxury. There was a weak or non-existence of various shades of left and secular forces, like minded trade unions, Muslims or other religions other than Christians and Hindus, lack of civil liberties organizations and an obvious lack of urban middle class activists who could respond and sustain the campaign effectively. Hence, whatever national campaign that has sustained the campaign for the human rights and justice for the people of Kandhamal was to a great extent due to the efforts few people like Fr. Ajay Singh who was based in Kandhamal, human rights activists like Dhirendra Panda who was based in Bhubaneswar and many other individuals and groups based on the sustained energies of such people. But the obvious lack of a diversity of potential individuals, groups and political forces in Kandhamal during the time of communal attack, could have been one of the main limitations, to explain why the Kandhamal Day is still not being observed widely at a national level.

No matter the limitations of social contexts, even with the existing forces which care for justice for the victims of Kandhamal ought to receive further support and strength. Perhaps one factor which is still blocking a proper national action on Kandhamal is the fact that all the churches that have been attacked belonged to Dalit and Adivasi Christians. I have always wondered, if the mainstream Christians and other potential voices in this country would have reacted differently, if the destruction of Churches, worship places, houses and properties along with the gruesome violence on men, women and children had happened to the upper caste Christians. This question came to my mind when I happened to see the photograph of the news of a public meeting in Malayalam mainstream papers showing the Bishops along with L.K. Advani, soon after Kandhamal communal violence. If I as an atheist was insulted and humilitated by such an act, one can imagine what could be feelings of the the Dalit Christians and Adivasi Christians on such a behaviour. It is a well accepted understanding among the activists who work on Kandhamal today that the memories of Kandhamal still do not hold the consciousness of the mainstream India, since the immediate victims were Dalits and Adivasis.

While the notion of secularism as defined so far is being debated in India and while I agree with many of the criticisms on the limitations of its present defined meanings, I would still use it due to the following reasons: 1. It provides at least a minimum protective space for the victims of communal violence through the Indian Constitution, and 2. There is still a lack of a proper alternative category to execute the political functions of a word called secularism. Therefore, in the absence of a politically accepted category, it may be wiser for activists to appropriate it and redefine the word secularism in such a way that all spiritualities, belief systems and religions are treated with equal respect and harmony irrespective of the number of followers. When I say belief systems, I would include atheism also. However, I am a bit critical of the way secularism is promoted so far as an excluded community of those outside religions. In the case of Kandhamal, I have met many people within different faiths, to be rightfully called secular Hindus or secular Christians. Take the cases of Hindu houses who provided shelter to many Christians in spite of knowing that their lives would be in danger if the blood spitting fundamentalists had found out about it, at a time when Kandhamal was burning. How did ordinary Hindu women express such courage? During the partition time, ordinary Muslim families in Pakistan have expressed courage to provide protection to the Hindus against the fanatics. In Gujarat, there were Hindus and Christians who expressed such courage. If this is not secularism, what else do we call such behaviour? To my mind, the only wide-spread secularism that exists today is within different faiths more than outside. The community of people like me still belong to the smallest minority in the country. And I hope that people like us can also apply for the minority status and protection of minority rights for the atheist community, if we are slightly organized in future! But unfortunately, it may not happen, since the heads of each atheist is turned in different directions from the other!

Perhaps what distinguishes the human species from the rest of the species is the expression of compassion undertaken by different individuals from different faiths, risking their own lives due to the firm conviction that lives of others from other religions, other communities and all those whose freedom is denied, are also as important as theirs. If the word called humanity has any meaning, it is this expression of compassion coupled with fearlessness. We must always remember that the fruits of our freedom that we enjoy so far are only due to such fearless compassion expressed by many individuals, groups and movements, articulated and expressed throughout the segments of history. And the only hope for the survival of the human species and the rest of the species is this fearless compassion expressed by a section of the society, in spite of being part of a human race. This is the best lesson we can learn from those fearless people of Kandhamal, so that their concerns can be taken forward on the forthcoming Kandhamal Days, to remember the gravity of the problems as well as hopes for the future!

K.P Sasi is an award winning film director and a political activist. He is also an Associate Editor of Countercurrents.org. He can be reached at kpsasi36@gmail.com

No action taken by NHRC on Kandhamal anti-Christian violence: Justice Shah

New Delhi/Odisha: Former Delhi High Court Chief Justice AP Shah on Friday accused the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of not taking any inaction on Kandhamal communal riots.
Shah headed the National People's Tribunal on Kandhamal riots.

"We submitted our report to the NHRC in 2010, however, no action was taken on the report. There is an international acceptance for NHRC and it is considered to be the guardian of human rights. It is surprising that NHRC has taken cognisance of various cases across the country but not in the case of Kandhamal communal riots," he said.

Shah was speaking at the launch of the book 'Kandhamal craves for justice', authored by journalist Anto Akkara.
He said the riots had affected many in Kandhamal and stressed on the need to strengthen commissions like NHRC.

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Congress and BJP: United in Targeting the Church

BJP and Congress governments play politics with conversion bogey

By John Dayal

India’s microscopic Christian community and its clergy may become “collateral damage” of an unspoken but very palpable competitive wooing of the majority Hindu community, specially in central India, in the run up to the General Elections in 2014, and elections to State legislative assemblies even earlier.

Three significant recent developments show the political trend. The State of Madhya Pradesh, which was among the first [with Orissa and Arunachal Pradesh] to seek a curb on conversions to Christianity through its ironically named Freedom of Religion Act in 1968, is now adding some more draconian provisions to the notorious law. Neighbouring Maharashtra is understood to be planning a similar law to criminalize conversions. And up in the Himalayan north, the Himachal Pradesh government is planning to seek the Supreme court’s help to reverse a High court judgment which had struck down some of the more vicious components of the state’s anti conversion law, including one which required government’s permission before change of faith.

Madhya Pradesh is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata party, now gone entirely overboard with the Hindutva agenda of its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh whose chosen Prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has made it clear where his priorities lie. His lieutenants have called for a building of a Temple to Lord Rama on the ruins of the Babri mosque the RSS groups demolished in 1992. Modi himself has lost no opportunity to stress his support to the Hindu heartland.

But it is the Congress that governs Himachal Pradesh. The current chief minister had enacted this law, and he now wants all its “teeth” restored by the Supreme Court. Maharashtra is also ruled by the Congress in a coalition with the Nationalist Congress Party of Union Agriculture minister Mr. Sharad Pawar, who too professes a vey “secular” ideology to woo the large Muslim population of his home State.

The mainstay of the Congress political platform has been its traditional non-partisan ideology – and its affirmative action for the poor, the marginalised, the religious minorities, Tribals and Dalits. But it has been an open secret from the days of Mahatma Gandhi and the illustrious leadership of the Freedom Struggle, that Congress also harbours majoritarian elements who surface every time the party has to seek votes in the face of a direct challenges by the BJP and other Hindutva groups such as the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.

The Maharashtra government has been secretive on its reason for contemplating a law to curb conversions. It has no data to show the number of conversions done through fraud or coercion – the two reasons given as grounds for vitiating a change of faith by a citizen even in the states of Arunachal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Himachal which do have these laws on the statute books.

What complicates the politics of such moves against conversions -- and the phrase is generally understood to mean conversion to Christianity, and not to Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism and Hinduism -- is the focus on Christian preachers and evangelists. Islam has since Independence not really been involved in proselytizing with its numbers growing only through birth. There have been many instances of Hindus converting to Sikhism, a practice that was common before the Army assault on the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984 at the height of the separatist Khalistani militancy, but still takes place in the Punjab and New Delhi. Conversions to Buddhism take place on a mass scale from the ranks of the Dalits, who are then called Ambedkarites or Neo-Buddhists. Five hundred thousand of them were converted to Buddhism in Nagpur by the late Dr. B R Ambedkar, the chair of the committee that wrote India’s Constitution. A recent celebrated mass conversion took place in recent years in Mumbai where 50,000 Dalits changed faith at a popular public grounds in the heart of the city under police protection.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Council of Hindus) and the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (Jungle Dwellers Welfare Association), frontal organisations of the RSS working in the tribal areas, routinely convert animistic and Christian tribals to Hinduism under what they call a Ghar Wapsi programme, “home-coming” to their faith. There has been no legal action ever against the VHP, or the RSS.

So far the Himachal law was the most draconian as it forced citizens and their pastors to give a month’s notice to the state authorities and then await their decision before they could formally profess the faith. The Evangelical Fellowship of Indian, and a secular NGO, ANHAD led by celebrated civil rights activist Shabnam Hashmi, moved the high court which struck down these obnoxious clauses.

It is these very sections that Madhya Pradesh now wants to incorporate into its old law. It in fact goes a step further and wants the police to launch mandatory enquires into why the person wants to change his faith – in effect why he wants to leave Hindu fold. Pastors can be jailed for four years and fined a hundred thousand rupees if they break the law.

In states where the police force and the subordinate bureaucracy is known to be bigoted sand partisan, such laws can become extremely punitive. Human Rights activists have often pointed out that such laws also encourage the persecution and victimization of the Christian community, especially of the clergy.

The Church does not seem to have anticipated this. It also has no thesis for a united pre-emptive challenge to such laws. Individual groups go to court, but it is not an easy process. Some sections of the church, in fact, are quick to blame Pentecostal groups as inviting such laws by their provocative evangelisation. Others seem ready to sue for peace, and are already making overtures to the BJP as was seen in the YMCA feting Mr. Narendra Modi at a function in Ahmedabad last month.

The last time the Church voiced its anger was when the then Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, called for a “national debate on conversions”, and the Catholic Bishops Conference president, Archbishop Alan de Lastic, challenged him, pointing out that such talk encouraged violence against hapless Christians in the country. It remains to be seen how the church will respond now.

Orissa: after the pogroms, Christians get a fraction of the damages

SOURCE - ASIA NEWS

Bhubaneshwar - "In the Kandhamal context, the central and state governments have failed to discharge their constitutional mandate to protect the fundamental rights of citizens," said Mgr Raphael Cheenath, archbishop emeritus of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar, as he presented AsiaNews with a report whose findings show the gross inadequacy of state and national compensation offered to the victims of the violent incidents of 2008.

Released last Friday, the study, titled Unjust Compensation: Assessment of Damage and Loss of Private Property during the Anti-Christian Violence in Kandhamal, India, was authored by the Centre for the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources (CSNR, in Bhubaneshwar) and the Network for the Right to Housing and Land (HLRN, in New Delhi). The two NGOs presented their work in cooperation with the Church and the Red Cross.

According to the study, the Orissa government paid out money only in the case of deaths and damaged or destroyed houses. All other type of property-land, personal valuables and furniture, documents, farm equipment, tools, and food reserves-were excluded from the compensation package. This, the prelate said, "has seriously damaged people who suffered almost total ruin."

As the study indicates, the problem is that there are no policies in the country, at the state or national levels, to settle such losses.

The issue of compensation also goes for destroyed or damaged places of worship. "The government," Mgr Cheenath noted, "says it cannot fund the rebuilding of damaged churches and religious facilities because India is a secular country."

In the past, the bishop had presented a petition to the Supreme Court, asking for 30 million rupees (about US$ 500,000) to repair damaged Church buildings.

Even though, the court ruled in favour of compensation, the government has only devoted a fraction of the funds originally requested.

Orissa: 5 years after anti-Christian pogrom, little justice for victims

Five years after an anti-Christian pogrom in the eastern Indian state of Orissa left 100 dead and over 50,000 homeless, justice has been denied to victims because of police inaction and the intimidation of witnesses, according to John Dayal, the lay Catholic journalist who serves as secretary-general of the All India Christian Council.

According to Dayal, Christians in Orissa have filed 3,232 criminal complaints, of which only 1,541 were accepted by police and only 828 resulted in a police “first information report.” Trials followed in 327 cases, which resulted in 169 judicial acquittals affecting 1,597 defendants. In another 86 trials, defendants were convicted of minor offenses.

Acquittals “often occur because the key witnesses are threatened, intimidated, or afraid,” the Fides news agency reported.

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More acquittals in Kandhamal cases

A fast track court has acquitted three persons in a case relating to the killing of a physically handicapped youth during the 2008 Kandhamal riots.

Additional Sessions Judge of Fast Track Court-I, Sobhan Kumar Dash, yesterday acquitted Bidesi Nayak, Susila Sahani and Belalsen Kanhar in connection with the murder of Rasananda Pradhan Gadragam near Rupagam on August 24, 2008, during the riots.

According to the prosecution, a mob had surrounded the house of the victim, who was handicapped and unable to move anywhere. He was allegedly burnt alive after being doused with petrol.

Rest of the members of the family had managed to escape. Police found his charred body three days later.

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Frustration grows in Orissa

Verdicts from fast track courts in India set up to try cases related to the 2008 anti-Christian violence in Orissa have brought little solace to the victims.
Church workers, lawyers and activists assisting victims say anger and frustration is growing as murderers, rapists, arsonists and looters, walk free, in mockery of the country’s criminal justice delivery mechanism.
Many cases have become laughing matters as shoddy investigations, sham prosecutions and money and muscle that frighten witnesses lead to acquittals.
Vrinda Grover, a Supreme Court lawyer and activist, calls Kandhamal’s fast track courts “sites of speedy injustice.”
Joining her are hundreds of victims such as Nabajini Pradhan, the niece of a tribal chief who was killed for protecting Christians. “They killed and burnt my uncle’s body to destroy evidence. I still cannot understand how the murderers were acquitted,” she says.
Ishar Digal’s mother-in-law was killed and burned but her murders were also acquitted. “We saw my mother-in-law’s killers. Yet there is no evidence.”
Christodas Nayak, whose wife was axed to death, says he is disgusted after a court acquitted 29 of the 31 accused in the case. “There were more than 5,000 people who killed my wife and a neighbor and burned more than 300 houses,” he adds.
Father Manoj Kumar Nayak, a priest working among the victims, says he fails to understand how the justice system works in Orissa. “There are witnesses who testify and even identify the accused in the court, yet the court sees no evidence,” he says.
The Hindu radicals who perpetrated the crimes burned Paul Pradhan’s house and office and forced his wife to become a Hindu. But no one was punished even though Pradhan is a lawyer.
The Orissa administration, he says, claims Kandhamal cases have more convictions than those related to the anti-Muslim cases in Gujarat, western India.
“Such comparison shows the administration is more interested in maintaining statistics than meting out justice.”
Lalita Missal, coordinator of the National Alliance of Women, Orissa Chapter, says the system gives little scope for the victims to present their version of events.
“It is pity the victims have no say in their own cases and have to be at the mercy of the public prosecutors,” she said.
Father Nicholas Barla, tribal activist, warns the Kandhamal acquittals could undermine India’s democracy. “If there is no justice, democracy would be mobocracy (rule of mob) with more crimes and chaos,” he said.
John Dayal, a prominent lay leader in India, says the way the Kandhamal cases are handled has become “a shame on the Indian justice delivery system.”
St. Joseph of Annecy Sister Justine Senapati, who works among the survivors, regrets the little attention given to rape and molestation cases. She wants special courts to try these cases.
Bishop Sarat Chandra Nayak of Berhampur diocese said the large rate of acquittals has alarmed him. He says punishments are “far too minimal” in the few convictions that have been secured. They are so light as to be no deterrent at all, he says.
“Fines should be recovered and given as compensation to the victims, only then will criminals feel the heat.”

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Nine get jail, one acquitted in Kandhamal riots case

Bhubaneswar: Nine people were convicted and sentenced to four years in jail by a trial court on Tuesday for their role in the riots in Orissa's Kandhamal district in 2008. One man was acquitted due to lack of evidence.

'Nine people were convicted and sentenced to a four-year jail term and fined Rs.5,500 each in a case of arson during Kandhamal riots. One man named Hrushi Pradhan has been acquitted in the absence of evidence,' P.K. Patra, the public prosecutor, said.

The Fast Track Court-II Judge C.R. Das convicted the nine people of Salesaru village for torching the house of Balusan Digal and other villagers on Aug 25, 2008.

Kandhamal district, about 200 km from here, witnessed widespread violence after the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides at his ashram on Aug 23, 2008.

More than 25,000 Christians were forced to flee after their houses were attacked by rampaging mobs that held Christians responsible for Saraswati's killing, although the police blamed the Maoists.

The government has set up two fast track courts to try cases related to the communal violence.

Christian arrested in Karnataka on false charges

A Christian was arrested on alleged charges of forced conversion in Puttur Taluka, Karnataka.

Harish, 35 years from Mardala Village, Puttur, Karnataka was reportedly returning home from a friend’s house after prayer on February, 7, 2010 at about 4:30 pm, when he was arrested. His wife Lakhsmi, 28 years, and their 2 month old child was also detained by the police for 5 hours on the pretext of investigation.

Harish has been charged undersections 149, 295, and 295A of the Indian Penal Code. He was produced before the Puttur Magistrate on the same night and was sent to Mangalore jail.

The complainant has been identified as one Sekhar, who is said to be the local Bajrang Dal leader.

Marxist-Leninist fact-finding report says 500 Christians killed in Orissa in August-September 2008 pogrom, cites government officer

[Marxism] MLIN [Nov.-Dec.08] ML International Newsletter, November-December 2008

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation international team

Liberation Magazine, November, 2008.

Websites: [mlint.wordpress.com] and [www.cpiml.org]

Emails: [cpiml_elo@yahoo.com] and [cpimllib@gmail.com]

Orissa Pogrom

Fact-Finding Report on Kandhamal Situation

A Communist Party of India [CPI (ML)] fact-finding team visited Orissa's Kandhamal District on 15-16 October, 2008. The team visited affected villages and relief camps, after facing interrogation by the Orissa Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The team also met District Magistrate (DM) and various police officials of Kandhamal district. Below is a report by team member J P Minz.

1. The District Magistrate's (DM) Statement: The DM told us that Kandhamal had been peaceful for the preceding ten days. Whereas there used to be fifteen relief camps, now only seven were operational, having 12,641 people. According to him, breakfast, meals, supplementary food meant for children, and iron and calcium tablets for pregnant women are available in these camps; a doctor is available round the clock; books are available for children and there are
regular reading sessions. Blankets, sarees, buckets and mugs and similar essentials have also been provided.

2. Conditions at the Relief Camps: Our team visited Phulbani, Tikabali, Ji Udaygiri and Rakiya relief camps and found that the inmates of the camp are living in extremely bad conditions. In the
name of breakfast they get only fifty grams of chura (beaten rice) and rice-dal for meals, which is not enough to satisfy the needs of hunger and nutrition. In the name of supplementary food, the children are occasionally given biscuits. Bathing soaps have been distributed just
once in the camps. The doctors do visit but patients are told that there is no medicine. There is no arrangement for pregnant women. The camp inmates sleep on plastic mats on the ground. They have to defecate in the open, which apart from being unhygienic also puts them
in danger. One inmate of Ji Udaygiri camp, we were told, was killed when he had gone to defecate.

3. Role of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal: The victims in all the relief camps unanimously told the fact finding team that it is the VHP and Bajrang Dal cadres who have sowed the seeds of communal division in the villages. They used to organize meetings of
the Kandha tribals and incite them to attack the Christian hamlets and also provided funds for doing this.

4. Role of the Police and Administration: The anti-Christian riots in Kandhamal started on the day of the bandh called by VHP after the murder of Swami Lakshmananad, and these riots continued for over a month. In the communal fire two hundred Christian villages and 127
Church and prayer halls were either destroyed or burnt. Apart from this, schools, hospitals, hostels and convents also have been damaged. The incidents of killings, rape and loot also were carried out in addition to former incidents. The shocking fact is that all these
incidents took place in full view of police and the police remained mute spectators.

The official figure for deaths has been reported to be 31, however, a senior government official on the condition of anonymity informed that he himself consigned two hundred dead bodies - found from the jungle - to flames after getting them collected in a tractor. As per his
estimates based on the intensity and pace of killings the number of those killed is over five hundred.

5. Atmosphere of Terror: The Christians continue to experience great terror. The Sangh outfits are campaigning for sending back the CRPF and the Nikhil Utkal Kui community is threatening to launch an armed movement. Riot-victims are frightened to go back to their villages
because they have been threatened that if they return they will be hacked into pieces. The rioters are also proclaiming that only Hindu converts will be allowed to return. On the other hand, those in charge of the relief camps are pressurizing the riot victims to return to
their villages saying that the life has returned to normalcy and peace has returned.

Conclusions:

1. This violence was a pre-planned anti-Christian communal assault, and in no way was it a 'clash' between adivasi (tribals) and dalits.

2. This violence which had full support from the Biju Janta Dal
Government was planned and executed by VHP and Bajrang Dal.

3. The Sangh's propaganda about 'indiscriminate religious conversion' is a far cry from facts, as the Christian population of Orissa is only 2.5 per cent of the total population. It is to be noted that Christian missionaries began working in Orissa 150 years back.

4. Dalits have far less proportion of land in comparison to the Kandha tribals. In Kandhamal 90 per cent land is government land, 5.5 percent belongs to tribals and rest 4.5 per cent belongs to Dalits, OBC and Oriya (businessmen). There is not much difference in the economic
conditions of the tribals and the dalits. The dalits are very slightly better off as they engage in small businesses.

Our Demands:

1. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal (BD) should be banned.

2. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik responsible for the violence should
tender his resignation immediately

3. The accused for the riots be immediately arrested.

4. The Orissa Govt. must reconstruct all houses, churches, schools, hostels, hospitals and other social-religious structures demolished during the violence and for other damages adequate compensation be granted after a proper survey

5. The relief camps be run for another six months and proper civic arrangements for food, medicine and sanitation be made in these camps.

6. Arrangements be made for registering First Information Reports (FIRs) related to the communal violence at all police stations.

7. Peace process be initiated and guarantees be made for reopening and running of schools, hospitals and other institutes run by the Christian missionaries.

Orissa Pogrom

United Protests: South Orissa Bandh by CPI (ML) and Other Parties Liberation, November, 2008.

On 13th October CPI (ML) Liberation along with four other parties – CPI (ML) New Democracy (ND), Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) [CPI (ML)], Socialist Unity Center of India (SUCI) and Samajwadi Jan Parishad held a successful bandh in five districts of South Orissa - Kandhamal, Rayagada, Gajapati, Koraput and Ganjam – against the carnage in Kandhamal, the complicity of the Navin Patnaik Government and the criminal inaction of the Congress-led UPA
Government at the Centre. The bandh was total in the five districts and marked by the spontaneous participation of people. Around 10, 000 people actively participated in Liberation's initiatives to make the bandh a success in Rayagada; 1200 in Gajapati.

Holding that the ruling BJD as well as Congress which is in power at the Centre too have blood on their hands because of their hands-off approach towards the Sangh Parivar mobs, the CPI (ML) had declined to join a joint protest announced by Communist Party of India (CPI) and
the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)] with Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Congress party in the state.

In Bhubaneswar, trains were stopped and the National Highway blocked by 200 Liberation activists. Comrade Tirupati Gomango held a rally of around 8000 people at Gunupur. The bandh sent out a stern political message rejecting the communal violence against thousands of
Christians by the Sangh outfits and condemning the forces in power which are allowing the violence to take place unhindered.

CPI (ML) Liberation's Nation Wide Protests

On October 3, CPI (ML) held nation-wide protests demanding prosecution of Chief Ministers of Orissa and Karnataka for allowing saffron mobs to indulge in an anti-Christian pogrom; demanding a ban on the Sangh outfits guilty of communal violence and protesting against the UPA Government's refusal to take stern action against the communal
killers. A memorandum to the President of India was submitted from all over the country. The memorandum, raising all the above issues and demands, also noted that the Sangh's accusations of 'forced conversion' was actually serving to cover up their own acts of forcing
adivasis and Christians to convert to Hinduism. Conversion from Hinduism has largely been an act of rebellion by the oppressed castes against the caste-ridden Hindu fold, noted the memo, and "the current wave of violence is therefore also an attempt to terrorise the Dalits and other oppressed social groups for their rebellion – and is therefore acontinuation of social oppression in another form." The acts of humiliation of Christians that have come to light – raping,
parading naked, and forcing to eat excreta as 'purification' ritual – are all reminiscent of the atrocities against Dalits.

The party also noted the increasing incidents of communal violence in Dhule (Maharashtra) and Adilabad (Andhra Pradesh), in which the minority community bore the brunt of the attacks. Also, it condemned the Tarun Gogoi Government for allowing the Bodo-Muslim clashes to
take place, which had resulted in thousands of people being driven into refugee camps.

In Delhi, activists of CPI (ML) gathered at Parliament Street and burnt an effigy of Navin Patnaik and Yeddyurappa, and submitted a memorandum to the President.

In Karnataka, another major centre of the ongoing communal violence, protest demonstrations were held in various places in the state, and the memorandum to the President was sent through the tahsildars in the taluks. More than hundred people protested in front of taluk office at Harapanahalli. The demo evoked much expectation in the town as a
church near Harapanahalli was also attacked sometime back. Our comrades had helped in getting bail for the Christian priests, on whom false cases had been foisted in addition to the attack on their church. The demo at Gangavati was also impressive and demonstrators
shouted slogans against BJP that is coming out with its true colours after assuming power in the state. The demo at HD Kote near Mysore protestors included construction labourers and All India Central Coordination of Trade Unions (AICCTU) activists.

In Jharkhand, hundreds of people marched in the capital of Ranchi. The March against Communalism, in the Sainik Bazaar campus, was led by CPI (ML) General Secretary Comrade Dipankar. The March culminated in a mass meeting at Albert Ekka Chowk, addressed by many leaders. Protest processions, effigy burning, dharnas and mass meetings were also held
at various district headquarters (HQs) in Jharkhand; Bihar; Assam and Karbi Anglong; UP; W. Bengal, Tamilnadu, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, and Durg.

All India Progressive Womens Association (AIPWA) between 10-14 October, held protests and submitted a memorandum to the President of India demanding ban on the Sangh outfits Bajrang Dal and VHP responsible for assaults on Christians, and a Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) probe into the rape of a nun in Orissa.

Statement of the Nun who was raped in Orissa

Statement of Orissa rape victim Sr. Meena

On 24th August, around 4.30 pm, hearing the shouting of a large crowd, at the gate of Divya Jyoti Pastoral Centre, I ran out through the back door and escaped to the forest along with others. We saw our house going up in flames. Around 8.30 p.m. we came out of the forest and went to the house of a Hindu gentle man who gave us shelter.

On 25th August, around 1.30 p.m., the mob entered the room where I was staying in Prahald's house, one of them slapped me on my face, caught my hair and pulled me out of the house. Two of them were holding my neck to cut off my head. Others told them to take me out to the road, I saw Fr. Thomas Chellan also being taken out and being beaten. The mob consisting of 40-50 men was armed with lathis, axes, spades, crowbars, iron rods, sickles etc. They took both of us to the main road. Then they led us to the burnt down Jan Vikas building saying that they were going to throw us into the smoldering fire.

When we reached the Jan Vikas building, they threw us to the verandah on the way to the dinning room, which was full of ashes and broken glass pieces. One of them tore my blouse and others my undergarments. Father Thomas Chellan protested but they beat him and pulled him out from there. They pulled out my saree and one of them stepped on my right hand and another on my left hand and then a third person raped me on the verandah mentioned above. When it was over, I managed to get up and put my petticoat and saree. The another young man whom I can identify caught me and took me to a room near the staircase. He opened his pants and was attempting to rape me when the crowd reached there. One man in the crowd told him not to do any further harm and so he left me. I will be able to identify the person who raped me and other three persons who stepped on my hands and tore my saree etc.

I hid myself under the staircase. The crowd was shouting' where is that sister, come let us rape her, at least 100 people rape. They found me under the staircase and took me out to the road. There I saw Fr. Chellan was kneeling down and the crowd was beating him with hands and sticks. They were searching for a rope to tie both of us together to burn us in fire. Someone suggested to make us parade naked. They made us to walk on the road till Nwagaon market which was half a kilometer from there. They made us to fold our hands and walk. I was with petticoat and saree as they had already torn away my blouse and undergarments. They tried to strip even there but I resisted and they went on beating me with hands on my cheeks and head and with sticks on my back several times.

When we reached the market place a dozen of OSAP policemen were there. I went to them asking to protect me and I sat in between two policemen but they did not move. One from the crowd again pulled me out from there and they wanted to lock us in their temple mandap. The crowd led me and Fr. Thomas Chellan to the Nuagaon block building saying that they will hand us over to B.D.O. From there along with the block officer the mob took us to the police outpost, Nuagaon, other police men remained far.

The mob said that they will comeback after eating and one of them who attacked me remained back in the police outpost. Policemen then came to police outpost. They were talking very friendly with the man who had attacked me and stayed back . In police outpost we remained until the inspector incharge of Balliguda with his police team came and took us to Balliguda. They were afraid to take us straight to the police station and they kept us sometime in jeep in the garage, from there they brought us to the station. The inspector inchareg and other two government officers took me privately and asked whatever happened to me. I narrated every thing in detail to the police, how I was attacked, raped, taken away from policemen, paraded half naked and how the police men did not help me when I asked for help while weeping bitterly. I saw the inspector writing down. The inspector asked me "are you interested in filing FIR?" Do you now what will be the consequence? At about 10.00 p.m., I was taken for medical check up accompanied by a lady police officer to Balliguda Hospital. They were afraid to keep us in police station, saying that the mob may attack police station. So the police took us to the IB (inspection bungalow) where CRP men were camping.

On 26/08/08 around 9.00 a.m. we were taken to Baliguda Police Station. When I was writing the FIR, the Inspector In-Charge (IIC) asked me to hurry up and not to write in detail. When I started writing about the police, the I .I. C told me this is not the way to write FIR, make it short. Sot I re-wrote it for the third time in one and half page. I filed the FIR, but I was not given a copy of it.

At around 4.00 pm the inspector in charge of Balliguda police station along with some other government officers put us in the OSRTC bus to Bhubaneshwar along with other stranded passengers. Police were there till Rangamati where all passengers had their supper. After that I did not see the police. We got down near Nayagarh and traveled in private vehicle and reached Bhubaneshwar around 2.00 am on 27th August.

State police failed to stop the crimes, failed to protect me from the attackers, they were friendly with the attackers, and they tried their best that I did not register an FIR, not make complaints against police, police did not take down my statement as I narrated in detail and they abandoned me half of the way. I was raped and now I don't want to be victimized by the Orissa Police. I want C.B.I enquiry. God bless India, God bless you all.

Sr. Meena

Conversion law violation is a criminal offense

GANDHINAGAR: From now on, anyone wishing to convert will have to tell the government why they were doing it and for how long they had been following the religion which they were renouncing, failing which, they will be declared offenders and prosecuted under criminal laws.

Forced conversion could land those responsible a three-year jail term. This clause is contained in the rules of the anti-conversion law which came into effect on April 1.

The new law is called Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003, and took five years to be implemented because of the failure of the state government to come up with rules on the kind of information to be provided when applying for permission to convert to any religion.

The Bill confirms that Jainism and Buddhism are not sub-sects of Hinduism. The rules have been published in the Gujarat government gazette.

The rules make it obligatory for a priest seeking to convert someone from one religion to another to take prior permission of the district magistrate in order to avoid police action.

The priest, in fact, will have to sign a detailed form providing personal information on the person whom she/he wishes to convert, whether the one sought to be converted is a minor, a member of Scheduled Caste
or Tribe, her/his marital status, occupation and monthly income.

Anyone willing to convert will have to apply to the district magistrate a month before the rituals and give details on the place of conversion, time and reason.

After getting converted, the person will have to obligatorily provide information within 10 days on the rites to the district magistrate, reason for conversion, the name of the priest who has carried out the ritual and full details of the persons who took part in the ceremony.

The district magistrate will have to send a quarterly report to the government listing the number of applications for prior permission, comparative statistics of the earlier quarter, reasons for granting or not granting permission, number of conversions, and number of actions against offenders.

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Sanction to prosecute VHP activists refused

JAIPUR: The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Rajasthan has refused sanction to prosecute 14 Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists, accused of attacking a Christian priest here a year ago. It has ordered the closure of police investigation while asking the trial court to accept a previous charge sheet as valid.

A gang of 20 VHP activists, led by its Jaipur unit general secretary Virendra Singh Ravana, allegedly attacked Pastor Walter Masih in his prayer room – situated barely one km away from the Chief Minister’s official residence here – on April 29 last and ransacked his house. The priest was allegedly thrashed with lathis and rods and left profusely bleeding. Police arrested 14 accused and registered a case against them under six sections of the Indian Penal Code, relating to rioting, causing hurt, house trespass and causing damage.

The prosecution filed a charge sheet against the accused in the trial court in August 2007, but informed the court that the charge sheet was incomplete as the probe under some other charges was pending. Police added IPC Sections 153-A (hate speech), 295-A (insulting a religion or religious beliefs) and 505(3) (offensive statements made at a place of worship) to the charges against the accused during investigation and sought the State government’s sanction for prosecution as required by Section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Meanwhile, the accused were released on bail by the Rajasthan High Court after its denial, first by the trial court and later by the Sessions Court, on the basis of prima facie evidence produced against them. The case in the court of Judicial Magistrate No. 16, Jaipur city, has since been pending for arguments on charges.

The in-charge of Sodala police station has now informed the trial court that the State government has refused sanction for prosecution of the accused under the new IPC sections and the investigation in the case has been closed in compliance with an order of the Superintendent of Police. Police have requested the court to treat the previous charge sheet as final and valid even though the government’s order has not specified any ground for denial of sanction. Interestingly, the District Magistrate is empowered to give sanction under Sec. 505(3) without referring it to the government, while the latter’s sanction is needed for prosecution under Sec. 153-A and 295-A.

Civil rights groups here on Sunday registered a strong protest against the government’s decision, saying it was “patently illegal” and aimed at protecting the criminal elements of the VHP by ensuring that they faced trial under mild sections of IPC. They accused the BJP-led government of pursuing a policy to intimidate religious minorities. People’s Union for Civil Liberties State president Prem Krishna Sharma told journalists that this “fascist approach” of the ruling BJP was dangerous in view of the Assembly elections due this year. “With the elections coming nearer, there are clear indications that the BJP will openly threaten the minorities and give a free hand to its rank and file to attack them.”

While Pastor Walter Masih demanded justice, the activist groups pointed out that the government had followed a “communal pattern” by giving prompt sanction in a case against Father Thomas of Emmanuel Mission in 2006 and withdrawing the case against VHP leader Praveen Togadia in 2007. The government also withdrew in 2004 more than 250 criminal cases, in which several Ministers were involved.

PUCL lawyer A.K. Jain said the activists would take recourse to the Right to Information Act to demand that the government spell out reasons for denying sanction to prosecute the VHP activists and lodge a complaint with the Governor S.K. Singh. The civil rights activists will also organise a rally on the issue before the case comes up in the court for the next hearing on April 25.

(The Hindu 21/4/08)