Three years on, No flowers for Martyred Kandhamal–John Dayal

I would have liked to write that somewhere in India, some church – Catholic, Orthodox, Syrian, Episcopal, Pentecost or Evangelical Independent – held a prayer meeting on 23rd or 24th August 2011  for those martyred  in the violence that began in Kandhamal, Orissa, on those dates in 2008. I was in Kandhamal during much of the week this year, as in past years,  with local Nuns, pastors and catholic priests, so may have missed out on prayer services and observances elsewhere in Orissa and the country at large.

I fear though, barring Masses and prayers on Sundays and weekdays in a  routine manner, and perhaps a passing reference in some homily, there was no dedicated prayer service for Kandhamal.  This would be understandable in Kandhamal, where a terribly wounded peace  filled with  fear and apprehension is really no more than a technical absence of violence. But it is difficult o understand how a nation of a billion and quarter people,  2.3 per cent of them Christians and perhaps another similar number admirers or private followers of Jesus Christ, could have forgotten the trauma of the victims.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its sister organisations, the Bharatiya Janata Party which was  once a part of the ruling coalition of Orissa,  the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or the Bajrang Dal, did not forget the day. It was the murder of their vice president, Lakshmananda Saraswati by Maoists in his second Ashram at Jalespata, that sparked off the violence. Bloodshed followed in forest villages along the route when his body was taken along  a couple of hundred kilometres.

The Sangh Parivar as a matter of fact held the entire district to hostage as part of its commemoration of that day. The police had practically cut off Kandhamal to ensure that outsiders did not enter the district, but political leaders from Cuttack and Bhubaneswar did enter,  including Ashok Sahu, the former Police officer of the Assam Cadre who was a losing candidate of the BJP from Kandhamal in the last elections to the Lok Sabha. Interestingly, one of the key speakers was Manoj Pradhan, accused in several murder cases who is out on bail because the court says he is a Member of the Orissa Legislative Assembly and should be therefore not necessarily remain confined in jail till his cases are disposed off in the fast track courts.

I was witness to RSS cadres on motorcycles keeping vigil along roads, questioning people, including journalists, and mobilising crowds for the rally on 23rd August. An early Janamashtmi festival in fact provided them a double occasion, for it on the same religious festival three years ago that Lakshmananda was killed, and many traditional people mourned him on that holy day.

The actual political outburst was on 23rd in the district headquarters at Phulbani where  amidst police bundobast and policemen and Special Police Officers near major churches, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad held its  memorial rally, and later submitted its memorandum  to the Collector. The memorandum called for an enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the killing of Lakshmananda Saraswati and a halt to conversions to Christianity. The memorandum also demanded prohibition of cow slaughter, and action against those seeking benefits by obtaining fake caste certificates, a phrase they use to focus on Panos, or Dalit Christians in government service.  Laxman Panda, general secretary of the state unit of the VHP said they were upset as the main culprits in the murder case were still at large.

Maoists who have claimed credit for the murder are in jail, as are ten or so Christians accused by the police of masterminding the murder. The last to be arrested was Azad, a Maoist leader, The High court at Cuttack has rejected bail for the Christians a couple of times even as
the same court has released Manoj Pradhan on bail despite multiple murder charges against him. The Sangh Parivar however wants to implicate senior church leaders, as well as  lay persons they have been targeting for several years, and they made this clear both in the rally in Phulbani and in a petition before the Orissa High court.

The Orissa government had indeed ordered a judiciary inquiry by high court retired judge Sarat Chandra Mohapatra. The crime branch investigated the murder. But the Sangh brotherhood said they were not satisfied with the pace of investigation and demanded a CBI inquiry, in the words of Priyanath Sharma, another VHP leader and a coordinator of the campaign.

Perhaps a reminder is necessary of the magnitude of the violence that was unleashed in Kandhamal and 11 other districts of Orissa in August and September 2008, which also had repercussions in several other states, particularly Karnataka. In Kandhamal alone, over 56,000 people, both the Dalit Panos and the Tribal Kondhs – almost 99.99 per cent of them Christians by faith, were rendered homeless, spending several days each in the forests without food and water, before they could find their way to the safety of refugee camps opened at last by the state government.

By Church count, almost 6,000 houses were looted, demolished or burnt down. Close to 300 big and small Churches, including most major Catholic Parishes, were destroyed as were several other convents, clinks, schools, hostels and social service institutions include the premier organisation in the district, Jan Vikas, which had organised  the women of the backward district over several years of hard work.  Civil society counted perhaps a 100 dead, though officials kept the count below 50.

The number of injured was never really assessed. Neither was gender violence. There are at least three rape cases on record, but there certainly were many other women who were molested or raped. The formal court cases on rape proceed along at a snail’s pace. Almost no one has been sentenced for murder in almost two dozen cases that have so far come up before the two fast Track courts in Phulbani. The few convictions have been for “abduction” of a person whose body has not been found even now, but is presumed killed.

Convictions have not come through because almost all significant eye witnesses have been scared to death by the Sangh Parivar. The remaining have been bribed. Despite complaints to the judges, the police have not been able to put into place a reasonable or significant witness protection programme.

Reparations have also not been the best. The government has given compensation to the widows – Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s office and Rs 3 lakh from the Stat government, but not every widow has received this compensation. There have been no job offers, no free houses. There is a distinction made by governments of various states, and the Union government too, when it comes to compensating widows of communal violence of various sorts. The government showered its worst face when it came to compensating for victims of arson.

It divided the houses into partially and fully damaged, even though it realised that partially damaged houses would often have to be razed to the grown and rebuilt. It offered Rs 50,000 for the fully damaged houses and Rs 20,000 for partially damaged, and that too in several tranches. Many people had to use the money for food. There was not just sufficient money anyway to rebuild houses which cost upwards of Rs 85,000 for a small brick house with a tin roof. The church willy-nilly was forced to  come up with the balance of money.

The Catholic Church and the Believers Church  have built about 2,500 and 1,000 houses with other groups including the all India Christian Council also chipping in with about a hundred houses each. But over 2,000 houses may never be built unless new money is found. This of course does not include maybe several hundred houses  in remote villages or on disputed ground that have been listed in the official or church records. The church has gone to the Supreme court seeking proper reparations. Many of these lapses have been listed in detail in the report of the National People’s Tribunal which held hearings around this time last year in New Delhi.

The government has also failed in its duty on issues of employment and rehabilitation. The Supreme court has expressed its concern at the slow pace of rehabilitation.  This is specially visible in areas such as Nandigiri in the worst hit Tikabali block. These are people who had to escape massive violence in the Batticola village.  The Church and attached buildings were obliterated. The people sought to be converted to Hinduism, or assaulted. The violence ended, but the people just could not go back home. The government finally allotted them a piece of land under a hill several kilometres away from G Udayagiri. The Believers church made some houses for them, in three neat sterile rows. But here was no land to till. Their fields had been left behind in Batticola. There were no jobs for the men, none at all for the women. Some had to travel to the nearby Udayagiri Town to find work as casual labour.

That situation remains. But peace still remains tenuous. And some of the threats come from the government, specially in Nandigiri. Thanks to the efforts of Gabriel brother Markose, a lawyer who is helping the victims,. The villages had almost completed a small building on common land to serve as a community house and a church. But these seems to have run against the whims of the local officials. The villages have been given notice to demolish the building forthwith. There is also serious trouble in the case of another church not too far away from Nandigiri, in the Raikia Block. The Baptist Christian community had been worshipping at their village church for more than 60 years. They have a graveyard on a plot adjacent to the church. During the violence of 2008, their church was badly destroyed, only  a very little portion of the old church remains now. Rebuilding of the church began over an year ago. But Hindutva activists brought an earth mover and dug up the land between the church and the graveyard. The administration conveniently declared that it was disputed land. Revenue and police authorities repeatedly
told the Christian community not to proceed with reconstruction work whenever they began work. On 23 August, the  Revenue inspector came to the site to issue an order to the Christians to stop work. The third
church affected is the one at Bakingia where the coercion comes from the local fundamentalist group, who seem to be protected by the authorities.  Indian Currents in the past has also covered incidents of economic and business blockade of Christians, which specially injures the few Christian entrepreneurs.

It is in this  backdrop that the Church, with all its mistakes over the past three years in not being able to force the State government to  rebuild houses and lives, is trying to rebuild peace. Archbishop Raphael Cheenath, who led the community in the last three years returned earlier this year and has been succeeded by Archbishop John Barwa, SVD, a tribal from Rourkela. Archbishop Barwa is the first tribal Church leader of that rank in Orissa and is hoping that gives him an entry point for some serious work. In his talks with me and with Christian Media, Archbishop John Barwa has articulated his call to tackle religious intolerance, and adding that more work is needed to bring reconciliation in Kandhamal district. He maintains the Church is fully involved with the people and remains apprised of the goings on in the state.

Three years after the incident, he finds the lower-ranking officials “disturbing” Christians, but has hopes from higher-ranking officials who now seem more  “cooperative”. “My message is clear: we need peace and tranquillity – no more violence, no killing. The Christian faithful have the right to be in Kandhamal. They are growing in faith," says the Archbishop, though a number of local groups in the district continued to create problems, blocking the provision of building materials and other supplies for Christian homes and churches.

The focus is now on the Supreme Court of India where petitions are expected sometimes this for a reopening of the cases of murder of Christians and for redressal of the miscarriage of justice in the fast track courts in Phulbani.

RSS creates trouble for school in MP

Bhander Datia Dt. (Madhya Pradesh) -23rd Aug.2011: The RSS in M.P. has gone to the extent of using the very teachers of Govt. Schools to spread indiscipline among the students in the class rooms of schools run by the Christian missionaries in the state. Nayajeevan Mission School in Bhander Datia District of Madhya Pradesh happens to be one of the schools targeted by the RSS.

This school had been functioning without any problems during the last 12 years, and the children were being given standard education, which, perhaps, was not being appreciated by teachers associated with the Govt. schools - who also happen to be active members of the RSS. Rev S. Christopher of  the Friends Missionary Prayer Band, runs the school.

The actual problem started in August 2009, when the RSS activists began making false allegations against the school saying that they did not hoist the National Flag. But it was proved wrong after a prolonged inquiry by the District Collector of Bhander Datia District.

Unsatisfied with the outcome of the inquiry, the RSS activists like Prateep Tripati, Jayaveer Sirotiya, Karish Narayan Kourav, Chakilal Razak and Mahesh Talagayya – all teachers in different Govt. schools in the district decided to brainwash students of the Mission School who regularly attended the RSS Shakha meetings in the evenings. Their aim was to create chaos in the class rooms and in the school. This continued for more than a week and the teachers were bewildered by the unruly behavior of certain students and they complained to the head of the school, Rev. Christopher. The parents of some of these students were informed, but unfortunately they did not care to respond.

On 17th of this month during the morning prayer meeting, 3 of these students started a commotion with a view to disrupt the prayers. Rev. Christopher suspended them for 15 days. The students went to the local police station and lodged a complaint against Rev. Christopher. On 18th morning, Rev. Christopher had to go to the Bhander Police Station and spent the whole day till 6:00 in the evening.He was released only after getting the necessary bail from the District Court.

On Sunday evening he called for a Parents-Teachers Meeting, which was attended by about 60 parents, including the parents of the children who were involved in the case. He gave a clear picture of the whole incident to the parents, who unanimously agreed that the boys should be given Transfer Certificates so that they could pursue their studies in schools of their choice. But, not wanting to discourage the students, he said that a letter of apology should suffice. But the 3 students stubbornly persisted with their RSS tutoring and false allegations that the school didn't encourage the slogan "Bharat Matha Ki Jai."

Such incidents seem to be happening on a regular basis in states run by the saffron brigade.

NUCF Supports the demand of Dalit Christians for Scheduled Caste Status

NUCF Supports the demand of Dalit Christians for Scheduled Caste Status

New Delhi, July 27, 2011

The National United Christian Forum (NUCF) comprising of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), strongly supports the just demand of the Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims who are on hunger strike from 25th-28th July, 2011 at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. This protest is meant to reiterate the demand for obtaining Scheduled Caste Status to Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims.

Christians of Scheduled Caste Origin (CSCO), also called Dalit Christians, and Dalit Muslims have been asking for equal Constitutional rights on a par with their fellow Dalit brothers and sisters. Their Constitutional right to be treated equally has been denied historically in the Presidential (Scheduled Caste) Order 1950, Paragraph 3. This exclusion of people of Scheduled Caste (SC) Origin who adhere to religions other than Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism from their fundamental rights has caused great concern and has been debated from the very beginning of its promulgation.

The Justice Ranganath Misra Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities under the UPA government itself has endorsed that the Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims should be included in the Scheduled Caste Status and be given the same benefits as their counterparts in other religions. Similarly, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and National Commission for Minorities have also sent their recommendations in favour of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims.

The struggle for Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims has also received support from several political parties such as BSP, AIADMK, DMK, Telgue Dessam, RJD, LJP, JD(U) CPI, CPI(M). Some members from the Congress Party have also extended their support to the cause of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims. However, it is sad and unfortunate that the Central Government has not taken any effective measures yet to address the genuine demand of these sections of Indian society.

The NUCF strongly believes that it is only just and fair that the Christians and Muslims of Scheduled caste origin should get the legal protection and other educational and employment benefits given to their counterparts in other religions. The NUCF is convinced that change of one’s religious faith, does not alter one’s social status in India, and the Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims in India have been victims of social and economic exploitation for centuries. Their demand is genuine and it needs to be addressed at the earliest so that they can also be on par with Dalit Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs.

Issued by:

Rev. Dr. Babu Joseph, SVD

NUCF Media Coordinator &

Spokesperson, CBCI

Sangh strikes to pre-empt effective Prevent Communal Violence Prevention Bill

But civil society and minorities too have issues with components of the draft law
-       - -
John Dayal
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Victims have not forgotten these brutal tragedies in the life of Independent India, even if the State and political parties may pretend to have.

1984 Delhi:  On October 31, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards in revenge for Operation Blue Star. For the next three days, as Doordarshan telecast the lying in state of her body, over 3,000 Sikhs men and boys were burnt alive while policemen, politicians and the world watched. A very few have been prosecuted for India’s biggest communal violence since the Partition riots of 1947. And twenty-five years later, the Government is still to tell the people if there was a mastermind. A small group
of Sikh activists and lawyers have kept alive the pursuit of Justice for the widows of 1984. Needless to say, the aggressors were mainly from the majority community, allegedly owing allegiance to the Congress party though quite a few of them from radical right wing groups, including the Sangh Parivar who had done their share of the work in polarising Punjab in those traumatic years of the 1970s.

2002 Gujarat: On 27 February 2002, the Sabarmati Express stopped at the Godhra station, and its Coach Number six was set afire allegedly by a group of Muslims presumably as a continuing response to the demolition of the Babri Masjid by the Sangh Parivar almost ten years
earlier on 6th December 1992. The bodies of the 59 Hindu pilgrims from Ayodhya who died in the fire were brought to Ahmedabad in a deliberate political decision. And for the next several days, the city and several other towns burned. In what the President and Prime minister
called “a blot on the cultural traditions of India”, the Union government told Parliament that 790 Muslims were killed, 223 more people reported missing and another 2,500 injured. More than 100,000 people fled their homes. Human rights groups feared the toll to be as
high as 2,000 Muslims killed. The National Human Rights Commission found evidence of premeditation in the killings by members the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal with a large doze of complicity by the State
political and administrative apparatus headed by chief minister Narendra Modi. Many Police officers were named in subsequent enquiry commissions for their role in the violence which spread to 151 towns and 993 villages in fifteen of the state's 25 districts between
February 28 and March 3. And after a drop, violence restarted on March 15, continuing sporadically till mid June. Once again, not many have been prosecuted and sentenced for the violence even as Muslims have
been sentenced in the train fire. The Supreme Court and special teams are still investigating allegations of mass rape of women, including genital mutilation, and the tearing out of foetus from pregnant women’s bellies.

2008: Kandhamal district, Orissa: The violence in Orissa between 23 August and 1 October 2008 was comparatively on a much smaller scale, but was historically unique in being targeted against the micro-
minority Christian community by communal mobs out to avenge the assassination of VHP vice president Lakshmanananda Saraswati in his ashram by self confessed Maoists on 23 August. For almost a month, the
district of Kandhamal, on a plateau in the midst of the state of Orissa, was out of bounds even the government’s troops while the killer gangs roamed the countryside, killing perhaps as many as a 100 people – the government acknowledges 37 deaths – burning down 5,600 houses in 300 villages, destroying 257 big and small Churches and forcing as many as 55,000 people to flee their houses. By May 2011, several thousand are still living in make shift huts. They have been barred from their villages by the Hindutva gangs who say quite openly
that they will allow the Christians to return only if they convert to Hinduism. Orissa chief minister Naveen Pattnaik, who was in a coalition with the Bharatiya Janata party during the violence, and returned to power after severing relations with that party, told the
state legislature that the attacks were mainly led by right-wing outfits such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and its youth wing Bajrang Dal.
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The then Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Maken, told Parliament there were at least 3,800 communal clashes reported in India between 2004 and 2008, marking a steady rise over the years. The
highest incidence of such violence in 2008 was the one in Orissa, of course, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 131, Uttar Pradesh with 114 and Maharashtra with 109 and Karnataka in the south with 108, half of them against Christians and the rest against Muslims. As per the total number of communal incidents in each state during the last five years, Maharashtra is on the top with 681 clashes, followed by Madhya Pradesh
with 654 and Uttar Pradesh with 613.

Data shows that barring the occasional incident of retaliation, the Muslims were the overwhelming target in the violence, and yet in the arrests, while 27,901 Hindus were arrested, so were as many as 7,651
Muslims. In firing by the police, again, 93 Muslims were killed as also about 75 Hindus.

Human Rights Watch criticized the administrations for engaging in a cover-up of the state's role in the massacres.

The Union government finally brought forward a Bill to anticipate and prevent communal violence. The 2005 Bill, which was introduced in the Rajya Sabha – where it still lies – left civil society and specially the Human rights groups aghast. Human rights groups and Muslim
intelligentsia – the Church was woefully absent in the exercise –pointed out two major flaws in the Bill. It empowered the state without empowering the victims and their communities. And it left unaddressed the entire question of impunity, how to hold politicians,
police and bureaucrats responsible for their acts of commission and inaction before, during and after acts of communal violence. In passing, the Bill was also grossly inadequate in assuring reparations, compensation and rehabilitation of the victims of mass violence. For
the Christian community, the 2005 Bill offered nothing. The community is subject to individual and sporadic violence almost every day of the year in some state or the other, and its smaller churches, house-churches and independent pastors, specially those working in small
towns or villages in tribal and forest areas are particular targets. But this violence was not even acknowledged or accepted as being communally motivated.

The Bill was rejected out of hand. Though the government has not withdrawn the 2005 Bill, the National Advisory Council headed by United Progressive Alliance chairperson Mrs Sonia Gandhi set up a working group coordinated by two NAC members, journalist-activist Farah Naqvi and former bureaucrat and NGO activist Harsh Mander – with members from the various religious communities. Major activist-members
included Shabnam Hashmi of Anhad, Teesta Setalvad of Mumbai, Vrinda Grover and Usha Ramanathan, and both jurists, from Delhi, and this writer. Advocate Sister Mary Scaria and Delhi lawyer P I Jose, senior advocate Muchhala, and leaders of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-i-Hind and the Jamiat-e-Islami-e-Hind were represented. For some time, Solicitor General Subramaniam was also involved. The committee was also noted for several eminent jurists including Prof Upendra Buxi who could not
attend a single meeting for personal or health reasons.
After sittings lasting more than a year, the working group came up with a draft. This was sent to Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaisingh for re-formatting. The resultant draft, called the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations)
Bill, 2011 has been put on the NAC website and people’s reactions have been sought with a deadline of 10th June 2011. The draft is not the Bill which will be presented in either House of Parliament, presumably later this year in the Monsoon or winter sessions.  It still has to be
whetted by the Union Home Ministry, which has its own draft ready for which it has been canvassing, and by the Union Law Ministry, the final arbiter of its readiness for Parliament. Even if it clears these two major hurdles and becomes a Bill, chances are it will be subject to a
minute examination in a select committee. One does not have to be a parliamentary expert to predict the Bill will have really very difficult passage indeed in the two houses of Parliament, even if the government seems willing to stake its political future in backing the bill.

But long before the processes take place for a sane debate, the Sangh Parivar has launched a pre-emptive offensive.  The Bharatiya Janata Party, the political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has held
formal press conferences, and its spokespersons have dominated the TV channels in tailor-made debates. Sangh think tanks have called for consultations on the issue, and their most articulate champion, leader
of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, advocate Arun Jaitely has gone to town saying, as a newspaper headlines screamed, that the  “Draft Bill on communal violence [is] more draconian than TADA”.  Arun
Jaitely wrote an extraordinary public note clearly indicating that not only would the BJP not support it in Parliament but that it would “fall foul of the Constitution as the Centre would have usurped the
jurisdiction of the States on law and order, a subject clearly and entirely within their domain.”

Understandably, as the leader of a party repeatedly indicted for spreading hate, Jaitely would be critical of any law that made hate propaganda as an offence and an outbreak of communal violence attracting President's rule in a state, presumably where the party was
in power. Jaitely also said the draft Bill was discriminatory as it exclusively dealt with violence targeted against a minority and did not deal with the possibility of minority violence against a majority
community. The proposed law was to “fix senior leaders,” the BJP felt.

Other aspects he faulted were the presence of four members of the minorities on the proposed 7-member national authority for communal harmony - and similar state authorities.

The Union government fielded HRD minister Kapil Sibal, more eminent a lawyer than perhaps even Jaitely, to counter the BJP. Sibal said the Centre was determined to make State governments and individuals responsible for law and order “accountable” in cases of communal
violence. “A polity which is just, fair and equitable needs to protect the weaker sections, minorities, SCs and STs,” Sibal said. The Congress, he said agreed the State governments would have to be on board if the draft Bill was ever to become law. Sibal’s party
colleague Manu Singhvi said a special law was needed because the normal provisions were tardy, there were no special courts, and the offense was not described and defined clearly.

National Commission for Minorities chairman Wajahat Habibullah, who had taken over just this year said the existing laws are sufficient because of the fact that they don't deal with prevention. “The Bill is not an Act only to handle communal violence but it is also to prevent
it and then to rehabilitate those who are victims.” Habibullah made a critical observation, noting that the important elements, repatriation and rehabilitation, have so far met with a mental block in society.
“In our country, it is something that we can be ashamed of, the anti-Sikh riots that took place, what happened in Kandhamal, what happened in 2002. We do need to address these with a sense of urgency and also with an essence of importance,” he said.

Outside of the political posturing of the BJP leadership, many in the NAC and most in civil society the draft is not a perfect one. Its formulation has not been without acrimony and controversy.

Ms Shabnam Hashmi, jurists Vrinda Grover and Usha Ramanathan and this writer issued a press statement resigning from the working group, expressing their own reservations to several aspects of the Bill, especially in areas of Centre-State relations, impunity, and trigger
mechanisms to make operative central intervention. We had reservations also about the powers and structures of the Central and State authorities sought to be created to oversee the control of violence and issues of reparation and so on and finally to ensure the
empowerment of the victims and ending impunity. There was a sense of shock that the draft as it was finally put on the internet introduced `internal disturbance' as one of the entry points, a matter which in previous consultations had been firmly rejected. “It has a constitutional history, and does things to the nature of state power that we ought never to be endorsing.” The second part of Article 355, which reads "and to ensure that the government of every state is carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution", was to be the entry point for the law.

Several Muslim members have also wanted the draft law to be tweaked in several areas to meet the challenge of hate campaigns, violence, rehabilitation and reparations.

Understandably, again, the NAC is defensive about criticism of the Bill, emanating from within or from political opponents. For one, Mrs Sonia Gandhi ahs identified this issue as one of the major ones the
NAC must get the government to act upon, together with issues such as food guarantee, and a life of dignity for domestic workers.

NAC members say the Bill made provision for all minorities — not just religious, but linguistic and regional as well. Seven States — Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal
Pradesh and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep Island –have Hindus as a religious minority. The NAC has also made a specific recommendation that the Bill should be extended to Jammu and Kashmir, so that Kashmiri Pandits would also be covered; it also points out that
migrants from east Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in Maharashtra — most of who are Hindus — would also be covered by the Bill. I must add that several of us have issues with extending the law to Jammu and Kashmir
valley which is beset with so many other issues, including terrorism, the heavy military presence, massive human rights violations, to name the maor ones.

The focus of the Bill is those particularly vulnerable groups of citizens, who are routinely subjected to violence or threats of violence in different forms because of ‘who they are’. The existing provisions of law fail because of a similar systemic bias in the
administrative and criminal justice machinery against these most disadvantaged groups. Their vulnerability stands twice enhanced.

An important clause is the Accountability of Public Officials. This is being secured through reiterating the duties of public officials, and defining offences by public officials as the failure to perform those duties. Offences by public officials shall attract penal consequences under this Bill as often the greatest cause for communal and targeted violence is that police and bureaucrats simply do not act. The Bill recognizes the offences of both commission and omission.

Similarly, hate campaigns are sought to be checked in recognizing the creation of a ‘hostile environment against a group’ and the Bill specifically defines a series of acts that amount to creating a intimidating or hostile environment against members of groups, including economic boycott, denial of public services, and forced
migration. It defines as the duty of public servants to identify the creation of such a ‘hostile environment’ and to prevent any communal and targeted violence against such members of groups.

Perhaps the one of the most controversial issue is of Command Responsibility. The NAC feels that given the hierarchical nature of administrative systems, the reality is that too often it is those higher up in a chain of administrative or political command that are responsible for failure to perform their duties. Yet, it is only the officer on the ground whose dereliction is visible. This Bill identifies culpability for those who are ‘effectively in-charge,’ through the doctrine of command responsibility. In cases of widespread, mass violence, the command responsibility shall reasonably
be presumed to extend to the immediate superior officer who shall be held guilty of such offence.  However, the chain of command responsibility may extend to any level where effective decisions to
act or not act are taken. This also extends to Non State Actors and any association.

But absolutely the most controversial is the attempt to create a:National Authority for Communal Harmony, Justice & Reparation and State Authorities for Communal Harmony, Justice & Reparation more powerful than any other institution created after the Constitution was
promulgated in 1950. NAC defends itself saying the principle behind this Bill is not to supersede the existing law enforcement machinery, nor to disempower or paralyze the existing administrative and justice
mechanisms, but rather to strengthen them and make them work by making them more accountable.

The primary monitoring and grievance redressal mechanism laid out in this Bill in the form of the National Authority and State Authorities (NA/SA) do not, in any instance, take over any existing powers of any
public official or institution. NAC says their only mandate is to ensure that public functionaries act to prevent and control communal and targeted violence, and to ensure justice and reparation when violence occurs. The National and State authorities will monitor,
inquire into complaints, receive or suo moto seek information, and issue advisories and recommendations only when there is alleged inaction or malafide action by public officials and governments.: NAC says through the NA/SA this Bill is seeking to create a mechanism that
can make the administrative and criminal justice system work as it should, free from favour or bias or malafide intent. The monitoring mechanism of the National and State Authorities will also provide the ‘paper trail’ to ensure robust accountability of public officials in a court of law.  The panels are to be chosen by a Selection Committee for members consisting of the Prime Minister, Chairperson, Leader of the Opposition in the House of the People, Union Minister for Home Affairs, Leader of each recognized national political party in the
House of the People. The Selection Committee for members (including Chairperson). In the States, the Chief Minister shall be the Chairperson.

The new Offences of communal and targeted violence, including ‘organized’ communal and targeted violence and mass violence that is widespread or systematic in nature is also defined specifically as ‘organized’ communal and targeted violence.

This Bill recognizes that for rights to relief, reparation,
restitution and compensation, there are no statutory norms and provisions for any Indian citizen under present law. Thus, all affected persons (whether or not they belong to a religious or linguistic minority or are SCs or STs) have been given justiciable rights to comprehensive reparations and compensation if they suffer any harm as a result of an incident of communal and targeted violence. So far, governments have been both arbitrary and selective in awarding compensation to different groups of citizens with different standards
of generosity. Compensation must not be a matter of charity or largesse, but a justiciable right with a single uniform standard for every Indian citizen.  This Bill provides that compensation shall be paid within 30 days from the date of the incident, and in accordance with a schedule, which shall be revised every 3 years. No compensation for death shall be less than Rs. 15 lakhs. No compensation for rape shall be less than 5 lakhs.

Addressing the Arun Jaitely charge of violating the sacred nature of federalism, NAC says the advisories and recommendations of the National Authority are not binding on any State Government, nor does the Bill create any new powers as they are already extant in law.

On our part, working group members have repeatedly reminder the NAC that Communal violence is not inevitable; it is not the norm in a maturing democracy, an economic and political superpower, and a caring
multi-cultural society such as India wants to be in the 21st Century.

Communal violence can be prevented if pre-emptive action by a non-partisan administration [Intelligence, magistracy and police, as also political leadership from Panchayat head to the Chief Minister of the State] is taken at any stage before it explodes as a full-blown mass
murder and arson.

Most of us are sure a democracy needs be vigilant against virulent political processes and entities, penetration of educational systems and politicisation of civil, police and military structures and must take pre-emptive measures. In Europe, Country Laws show they are aware of the menace of Neo Nazism and Anti Semitism and have taken precautions. The CV Bill must articulate this awareness.

Demonising and constructing images of the “Other”, specially of the Christian and Muslim communities, in gossip and political activity in the public domain, in general and political Media including the electronic media and Internet are now routine. Care has to be taken that it is not the victim-survivor who is punished anew by police and administrative action in imposition of curfew, search and arrest operations. Peace with Justice remains the core issue.

Pre-emptive Sangh offensive on Bill to Prevent Communal Violence

Political battle lines drawn even as victim minorities still look for ideal law to stop targeted hate and bloodshed

by John Dayal

Remember these?

1984 Delhi: On October 31, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards at her official residence, in revenge for Operation Blue Star. For the next three days, as Doordarshan telecast the lying in state of her body, over 3,000 Sikhs men and boys were burnt alive while policemen, politicians and the world watched. A very few have been prosecuted for India’s biggest communal violence since the Partition riots of 1947. And twenty-five years later, the Government is still to tell the people if there was a mastermind. A small group of Sikh activists and lawyers have kept alive the pursuit of Justice for the widows of 1984. Needless to say, the aggressors were mainly from the majority community, allegedly owing allegiance to the Congress party though quite a few of them from radical right wing groups, including the Sangh Parivar who were angry at the anti-Hindu actions of terrorists in the Punjab.

2002 Gujarat: On 27 February 2002, the Sabarmati Express stopped at the Godhra station, and its Coach Number six was set afire allegedly by a group of Muslims as part of a conspiracy against the Babri Masjid demolition by the Sangh Parivar. The train fire burnt alive 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ajodhya. Their bodies were brought to Ahmedabad in a deliberate political decision. And for the next several days, the city and several other towns burned. In what the President and Prime minister called “a blot on the cultural traditions of India”, the Union government told Parliament that 790 Muslims were killed, 223 more people reported missing and another 2,500 injured. More than 100,000 people fled their homes. Human rights groups feared the toll to be as high as 2,000 Muslims killed. The National Human Rights Commission found evidence of premeditation in the killings by members the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal with a large doze of complicity by the State political and administrative apparatus headed by chief minister Narendra Modi. Many Police officers were named in subsequent enquiry commissions for their role in the violence. The violence spread to 151 towns and 993 villages in fifteen of the state's 25 districts as it raged unchecked between February 28 and March 3, and after a drop, restarted on March 15, continuing sporadically till mid June. Once again, not many have been prosecuted and sentenced for the violence other than Muslims sentenced in the train fire. The Supreme Court and special teams are still investigating allegations of mass rape of women, including genital mutilation, and the tearing out of foetus from pregnant women’s bellies.

2008: Kandhamal in Orissa: The violence in Orissa between 23 August and 1 October 2008 was comparatively on a much smaller scale, but was historically unique in being targeted against the micro-minority Christian community by communal gangs out to avenge the assassination of VHP vice president Lakshmanananda Saraswati in his ashram by self confessed Maoists on 23 August. For almost a month, the district of Kandhamal, on a plateau in the midst of the state of Orissa, was out of bounds even the government’s troops while the killer gangs roamed the countryside, killing perhaps as many as a 100 people – the government acknowledges 37 deaths – burning down 5,600 houses in 300 villages, and – destroying 257 big and small Churches and forcing as many as 55,000 people to flee their houses. At the end of 2009, over 20,000 people had still not come back to their homes. They had been barred from their villages by the Hindutva gangs which have openly declared that they will allows the Christians to return only on the condition they gave up their faith and converted to Hinduism. Orissa chief minister Naveen Pattnaik, who was in a coalition with the Bharatiya Janata party during the violence, and has since returned to power after severing relations with that party, told the state legislature that the attacks were mainly led by right-wing outfits such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and its youth wing Bajrang Dal.

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The then Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Maken, told Parliament there were at least 3,800 communal clashes reported in India between 2004 and 2008, marking a steady rise over the years. The highest incidence of such violence in 2008 was the one in Orissa, of course, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 131, Uttar Pradesh with 114 and Maharashtra with 109 and Karnataka in the south with 108, half of them against Christians and the rest against Muslims. As per the total number of communal incidents in each state during the last five years, Maharashtra is on the top with 681 clashes, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 654 and Uttar Pradesh with 613.

Data shows that barring the occasional incident of retaliation, the Muslims were the overwhelming target, and yet in the arrests, while 27,901 Hindus were arrested, so were as many as 7,651 Muslims. In firing by the police, again, Muslims were the apparent target --93 Muslims were killed as also about 75 Hindus. Human Rights Watch criticized the Indian government for failure to address the resulting humanitarian as administrations for engaging in a cover-up of the state's role in the massacres. .

The Union government finally decided to act, bringing forward a Bill to anticipate and prevent communal violence. The 2005 Bill, which was introduced in the Rajya Sabha – where it still lies – left civil society and specially the Human rights groups aghast. Engaging the central ad state governments in a dialogue extending over scores of seminars in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow and many other cities, Human rights groups and Muslim intelligentsia – the Church was woefully absent in the exercise barring a stray individual or two – pointed out two major flaws in the Bill. It sort of empowered the state without empowering the victims and their communities. And it left unaddressed the entire question of impunity, how to hold politicians, police and bureaucrats responsible for their acts of commission and inaction before, during and after acts of communal violence.

This engagement did bear fruit. The National Advisory Council headed by United Progressive Alliance chairperson Mrs Sonia Gandhi set up a working group coordinated by two NAC members, journalist-activist Farah Naqvi and former bureaucrat and NGO activist Harsh Mander – with members from the various religious communities. The three members from the Christian community included this writer, together with two lawyers, Sister Mary Scaria and P I Jose of Delhi. Major activist-members included Shabnam Hashmi of Anhad, Teesta Setalvad of Mumbai and Vrinda Grover and Usha Ramanathan, and both jurists, from Delhi.

After sittings lasting more than a year and a half, the working group, finally assisted by Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaisingh, came up with a draft law, and called the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011. The Bill has been put on the NAC website and people’s reactions have been sought with a deadline of 10^th June 2011. The draft will then be sent to the government to undergo the processes which will finally see it being presented in either House of Parliament, presumably later this year in the Monsoon or winter sessions.

This writer, and Ms Shabnam Hashmi and jurists Vrinda Grover and Usha Ramanathan have expressed their own reservations to the NAC about several aspects of the Bill, especially in areas of Centre-State relations, impunity, and trigger mechanisms to make operative central intervention, the powers and structures of the Central and State authorities sought to be created to oversee the control of violence and issues of reparation and so on and finally to ensure the empowerment of the victims and ending impunity. Several Muslim members have also wanted the draft law to be tweaked in several areas to meet the challenge of hate campaigns, violence, rehabilitation and reparations.

But long before the processes take place for a sane debate, the Sangh Parivar has launched a pre-emptive offensive. The Bharatiya Janata Party, the political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has held formal press conferences, and its spokesmen have dominated the TV channels in tailor-made debates. Sangh think tanks have called for consultations on the issue, and their most articulate champion, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, advocate Arun Jaitely has gone to town saying, as a newspaper headlines screamed “Draft Bill on communal violence more draconian than TADA”. Arun Jaitely wrote an extraordinary public note “clearly indicating that not only would the BJP not support it in Parliament but that it would fall foul of the Constitution as the Centre would have usurped the jurisdiction of the States on law and order, a subject clearly and entirely within their domain” as the report said.

Understandably, as the leader of a party repeatedly indicted for spreading hate, Jaitely is critical of hate propaganda as an offence and an outbreak of communal violence being treated as an “internal disturbance” that would attract imposition of President's rule. Above all, he said, the draft Bill was discriminatory as it exclusively dealt with violence targeted against a minority. It did not deal with the possibility of minority violence against a majority community, he said. Jaitely says the proposed law was to “fix senior leaders” even when they were otherwise not liable for an offence. Other aspects he faulted were the presence of four members of the minorities on the proposed 7-member national authority for communal harmony - and similar state authorities.

The Union government fielded HRD minister Kapil Sibal, more eminent a lawyer than perhaps even Jaitely, to counter the BJP. Sibal said the Centre was determined to make State governments and individuals responsible for law and order “accountable” in cases of communal violence. “A polity which is just, fair and equitable needs to protect the weaker sections, minorities, SCs and STs,” Sibal said.

Everyone agrees the State governments will have to be on board if the draft Bill is ever to become law.

NAC members say the Bill made provision for all minorities — not just religious, but linguistic and regional as well. They pointed out that there were seven States — Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep Island, where Hindus were in a minority. The NAC has made a specific recommendation that the Bill should be extended to Jammu and Kashmir, so that Kashmiri Pandits would also be covered; it also points out that migrants from east Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in Maharashtra — most of who are Hindus — would also be covered by the Bill.

NAC says the focus of the Bill is those particularly vulnerable groups of citizens, who are routinely subjected to violence or threats of violence in different forms because of ‘who they are’. These consist largely of religious and linguistic minorities, SCs and STs. Tragically; it is for these very groups that the existing provisions of law fail because of a similar systemic bias in the administrative and criminal justice machinery against these most disadvantaged groups. Thus, their vulnerability stands twice enhanced. These are the groups that this Bill seeks to protect.

An important clause is the Accountability of Public Officials. Experience has also shown that in cases of communal & targeted violence particular groups of citizens are often denied equal protection before law and access to justice by those whose sworn legal duty it is to serve and protect – namely, public officials, as defined in Section 3 (h) of the Bill. According to the NAC, accountability of public officials is at the heart of this Bill. This is being secured through reiterating the duties of public officials, and defining offences by public officials as the failure to perform those duties. Offences by public officials shall attract penal consequences under this Bill. It is important to stress that often the greatest cause for communal and targeted violence against these vulnerable groups occurring, spreading and persisting, is that public officials simply do not act. The Bill therefore recognizes the offences of both commission and omission.

Hate campaigns are sought to be checked in recognizing the creation of a ‘hostile environment against a group’ as the Bill specifically defines a series of acts that amount to creating a intimidating or hostile environment against members of groups, including economic boycott, denial of public services, and forced migration. It defines as the duty of public servants to identify the creation of such a ‘hostile environment’ and to prevent any communal and targeted violence against such members of groups.

Perhaps the one of the most controversial issue is of Command Responsibility. The NAC feels that given the hierarchical nature of administrative systems, the reality is that too often it is those higher up in a chain of administrative or political command that are responsible for failure to perform their duties. Yet, it is only the officer on the ground whose dereliction is visible. This Bill seeks to ensure that the power of holding command over the actions of others is indeed upheld as a sacred duty, and that there is culpability for those who are ‘effectively in-charge’. This is being ensured through the doctrine of command responsibility. In cases of widespread, mass violence, the command responsibility shall reasonably be presumed to extend to the immediate superior officer who shall be held guilty of such offence. However, the chain of command responsibility may extend to any level where effective decisions to act or not act are taken. This also extends to Non State Actors and any association.

But absolutely the most controversial is the attempt to create a: National Authority for Communal Harmony, Justice & Reparation and State Authorities for Communal Harmony, Justice & Reparation more powerful than any other institution created after the Constitution was promulgated in 1950. NAC defends itself saying the principle behind this Bill is not to supersede the existing law enforcement machinery, nor to disempower or paralyze the existing administrative and justice mechanisms, but rather to strengthen them and make them work by making them more accountable.

The primary monitoring and grievance redressal mechanism laid out in this Bill in the form of the National Authority and State Authorities (NA/SA) do not, in any instance, take over any existing powers of any public official or institution. NAC reassured that their only mandate is to ensure that public functionaries act to prevent and control communal & targeted violence, and to ensure justice and reparation when violence occurs. “The job of the NA/SA is to watch, advise, nudge, push, remind, and warn those who run the system that there will be consequences if they fail to act as per law. The NA/SA will thus monitor, inquire into complaints, receive or suo moto seek information, and issue advisories and recommendations only when there is alleged inaction or malafide action by public officials and governments.: NAC says through the NA/SA this Bill is seeking to create a mechanism that can make the administrative and criminal justice system work as it should, free from favour or bias or malafide intent. The monitoring mechanism of the National and State Authorities will also provide the ‘paper trail’ to ensure robust accountability of public officials in a court of law.

The Selection Committee for members (including Chairperson) of the National Authority shall consist of the following --Prime Minister, Chairperson, Leader of the Opposition in the House of the People, Union Minister for Home Affairs, Leader of each recognized national political party in the House of the People. The Selection Committee for members (including Chairperson) of the State Authorities shall replicate this at the State level, where Chief Minister shall be the Chairperson, and members shall be - Minister for Home Affairs in the State, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, and leaders of all recognized State Parties in the Legislative Assembly.

The new Offences of communal and targeted violence, including ‘organized’ communal and targeted violence and mass violence that is widespread or systematic in nature is also defined specifically as ‘organized’ communal and targeted violence.

This Bill recognizes that for rights to relief, reparation, restitution and compensation, there are no statutory norms and provisions for ANY Indian citizen under present law. Thus, all affected persons (whether or not they belong to a religious or linguistic minority or are SCs or STs) have been given justiciable rights to comprehensive reparations and compensation if they suffer any harm as a result of an incident of communal and targeted violence.

“When there is violence, and citizens lose their lives, livelihoods, and homes, then each devastation must be recognized in the same manner. Each life lost must be compensated for justly and uniformly. Regrettably this has not been the case, and governments have been both arbitrary and selective in awarding compensation to different groups of citizens with different standards of generosity. Compensation must not be a matter of charity or largesse, but a justiciable right with a single uniform standard for every Indian citizen. This Bill provides that compensation shall be paid within 30 days from the date of the incident, and in accordance with a schedule, which shall be revised every 3 years. No compensation for death shall be less than Rs. 15 lakhs. No compensation for rape shall be less than 5 lakhs.

Addressing the issue of the federal nature of India’s polity, and the Constitutional framework, NAC sources say the advisories and recommendations of the National Authority are not binding on any State Government. With respect to the powers of the Central Government in relation to organized communal & targeted violence i.e in situations of mass violence, the Bill does not create any new powers as they are already extant in law.

It only proposes that “the occurrence of organized communal & targeted violence shall constitute ‘internal disturbance’ within the meaning of Article 355 of the Constitution of India and the Central government may take such steps in accordance with the duties mentioned there under, as the nature and circumstances of the case so requires,” the NAC feels.

The Christian members repeatedly reminder the NAC that Communal violence is not inevitable; it is not the norm in a maturing democracy, an economic and political superpower, and a caring multi-cultural society such as India wants to be in the 21st Century. Communal violence can be PREVENTED if pre-emptive action by a non-partisan administration [Intelligence, magistracy and police, as also political leadership from Panchayat head to the Chief Minister of the State] is taken at any of the following stages before it explodes as a full-blown mass murder and arson:

A democracy needs be vigilant against such political processes and entities, penetration of educational systems and politicisation of civil, police and military structures and take pre-emptive measures. In Europe, Country Laws show they are aware of the menace of Neo Nazism and Anti Semitism and have taken precautions. The CV Bill must articulate this awareness.

Demonising and constructing images of the “Other”, specially of the Christian and Muslim communities, in gossip and political activity in the public domain, in general and political Media including the electronic media and Internet.

Care has to be taken that it is not the victim-survivor who is punished anew by police and administrative action in imposition of curfew, search and arrest operations. Justice remains a major issue Witness protection programmes, addressing issues of impunity by punishing of all guilty, including government staff and establishing Command Responsibility inclusive of political leadership, relief, reparations and rehabilitation including of religious personnel and institutions, especially in the Christian context.

On issues specific to the Christian community, the NAC was reminded of the issue of Dalit Christians and their targetting, as also those of Tribals. The matter of small churches and house churches was also taken up as hundreds, if not thousands of cases are reported from a dozen States every year of attack on people praying in a house.

Though populations are dispersed in the major states – barring Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Goa, -- the violence is consistent. And yet authorities, especially the police dismiss it as “sporadic” unrelated and unconnected violence. The overall Pattern of Violence is never taken into account while taking preventive or curative measures.

For the last forty years, there has been a consistent and sustained hate campaign against Christians, often officially supported. Where huge temples exist in government building and even in police stations, it is perhaps difficult to expect a secular approach from subordinate officials and policemen. The hate campaign in media is supported by partisanship in the district administration, further aggravating the communal harmony in those regions. These include refusal to distribute religious tracts and refusal of permission to sell or distribute Bibles, permission for holding Healing Ministries and Prayer meetings on public or private grounds and fields, and mis-reporting in the mass media painting the Christians in a negative light.

Diffused but sustained violence against Christians such as in Orissa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh – now termed sporadic and dispersed and yet to recognisable -- has to be taken into account. Place of worship have to include definitions of churches ranging from cathedrals to house or home churches, had gender violence against Christian religious women, such as nuns, Evangelists, tract distributors, health prayer members, has to be specifically mentioned in definitions. The nuances of the hate campaign have to be conveyed in definitions and then once again in the rules as they are formulated.

13 sentenced to 5 years in prison in Kandhamal case

A fast track court in Orissa convicted 13 persons on Wednesday for their involvement in anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal district in 2008, while another court acquitted 12 others. “All the cases were related to arson,” public prosecutor PK Patra said. Kandhamal’s district headquarter Phulbani is 250 km south-east of Bhubaneswar.

First Track Court I judge Shobhan Das handed the each of the 13 persons over a punishment of five years’ rigorous jail term and fine of Rs 2000.

Fast Track Court II judge BN Mishra, on the other hand, acquitted 12 others for lack of evidence.

The riots, which took place in August 2008, were the worst in the history of Orissa.

They were triggered by the murder of Swami Lakshmanananda by suspected Maoists.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), however, blamed the Christian community for his murder.

At least 38 persons were killed in the riots. Thousands of houses were raged to the ground. Thousands of people left their villages to take shelter in refugee camps.

The Orissa government had set up two fast track courts to try the cases related to the violence. The courts have convicted more than 150 persons for their role in the riots.

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Kandhamal riots case: Court sentences 13 to 5-year imprisonment

A fast track court in Orissa sentenced 13 people to five years imprisonment today for their involvement in 2008 Kandhamal riots.

Additional sessions judge of Fast Track Court-II, Biranchi Narayan Mishra, while convicting the 13, also imposed a penalty of Rs 2,000 on each.

According to the prosecution, the convicts were involved in rioting, arson and torching of houses in Sartaguda village under Tikabali police station in September, 2008 after the killing of VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati.

In another judgement, the court acquitted 12 people who had been arrested by Phiringia police on charges of unlawful assembly with deadly weapons in Sripalla village on December 30, 2007.

The area witnessed violence in December 2007.

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Christian groups ask government to protect religious minority

Christian groups in India have asked the Centre to take action against anti-Christian violence in the “saffron-colored corridor” of states in central India.

The Global Council of Indian Christians and the Catholic Secular Forum, in separate reports, have called for action to protect Christians in the states of Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

The reports state that Hindu extremists in these states have pursued a campaign of violence against Christian minority.

The groups charge that in the “saffron-colored corridor,” Hindu radicals often have the tacit or even overt support of local police and government officials.

The reports points to more than 1,000 anti-Christian incidents in these states in the past 3 years, and cites “over 100 cases of true martyrdom.”

It challenges India’s national leaders to take action against the anti-Christian violence, saying that it poses “a test for the government about its real capacity to promote justice.”

Source: Catholic Culture

Maoists named in chargesheet submitted by police on Laxmanananda killing.

Bhubaneswar : Almost three years after senior VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati was killed along with four of his associates by a group of 40-odd assailants in Kandhamal district of Orissa, the police on Monday submitted its final chargesheet against seven Maoists but failed to explain why he was killed.

The police had filed its first chargesheet against seven tribal/Dalit Christians in a Kandhamal court in January 30, 2009. On Monday, it filed its second and final chargesheet against senior Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda and six others.

The other six are Udaya alias Pulari Rama Rao, Jadu alias Somanath Dandasena, Azad alias Dona Keshava Rao, Dasru alias Dasanna, Lalu and Lakhmu alias Madan. Among the seven named, only two have been arrested. Panda has been described as the mastermind of the operation.

In the first chargesheet, the police had named Duryodhan Sunamajhi, Munda Badamajhi, Sanatana Badamajhi, Bijay Sanseth, Gananath Chalanseth, Bhaskar Sunamajhi and Budhdev Naik.

Saraswati, 82, was shot dead in August, 2008.

His associates — Kishore Baba, 45, Amritananda Baba, 62, Mata Bhaktimayee, 40, and Puranjan Ganthi, 28, the brother of a girl inmate of the tribal residential school — also fell to the bullets.

The second chargesheet, based on confessional statements of Uday and Somnath Dandsena, however, does not explain why the Maoists wanted to kill Saraswati.

All it says is how the murder was planned in the jungles of Chandrapur, a forested area in Raygada district close to Kandhamal.

Police officials say Chandrapur is the bastion of Maoists like Sabyasachi Panda alias Sunil, the head of the Basdhara division of CPI(Maoist) in Orissa.

The killing had sparked off widespread riots in Khandamal. 43 people were killed and hundreds of houses and churches were burnt down in the violence that raged for about two months.

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Bring in the anti-conversion law or I go on a hunger strike : M Chidananda Murthy

BANGALORE: Well known researcher Dr M Chidananda Murthy has urged the State Government to bring a stringent legislation to ban religious conversions in the state.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Murthy said that Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had assured to bring a legislation to ban religious conversions soon. If there was no progress in this regard within a month, Murthy said he along with a few organisations would sit on a hunger strike.

States like Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat had already banned religious conversion. Even the Supreme Court had upheld the Prohibition of Religious Conversions Act of Madhya Pradesh which was in place since 1968. So there should be no problem for the state government to bring such a legislation , Murthy said.

He also called upon Opposition, particularly Congress, to support the State Government in this regard as the subject was not confined to any political party.

He also took a strong exception to the efforts of some sections of Lingayats to project Veerashaiva as a separate religion. "It is sad that this is happening. Veerashaiva community is a religious denomination of Hindu religion," Murthy said while requesting those propagating this idea to drop it keeping in mind the unity of the Hindu religion. "The division in Hindus will help religious conversions," he added.

Welcomed

He expressed happiness over the decision of the State Government to erect a statue of Sir K P Puttanna Chetty in front of Town Hall.

"It is good that the government has taken an initiative to bring up a statue of K P Puttanna Chetty in the city. He has contributed a lot to the development of the city," Murthy said.

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Case filed against Togadia

The police here filed a case against Pravin Togadia, the international general secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, on Sunday on the allegation that he made a highly inflammatory speech, which could lead to communal disharmony, at a public meeting here on Saturday.

Police sources said the case was filed under Section 153(A) of the Indian Penal Code (promoting communal disharmony), a non-bailable offence. They said the police had reviewed the video footage of the speech before filing the case.

Mr. Togadia left the town after the meeting held as a prelude to the State conference of the Hindu Aikya Vedi on the Town Hall premises. After the meeting, an incident of stone-throwing was reported at Chettukund, near the town.

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Hindu group alleges bias in listing India on 'Watch List'

Washington : The decision of the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to place India in the 'Watch List' of countries along with Russia, Afghanistan and Cuba raises questions of bias and flawed methodology, a Washington-based eminent Hindu group said here.

"USCIRF's decision to club India in with a dozen or so of the worst violators of religious freedom in the world, while overlooking others, again raises questions of bias and flawed methodology," Prof Ramesh Rao of the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) alleged.

"The Commission's censure of India in 2011, despite that country's celebrated pluralism and absence of any significant recent religious discord -- despite provocative terror attacks -- seems based more on a disagreement over some states' effort to monitor coercive and forced conversions," Rao said.

The USCIRF decision, however, was not unanimous.

Commissioners Felice Gaer and William Shaw dissented, describing the listing of India on the watch list as "ill-advised and inappropriate".

HAF was the only organization invited to testify by USCIRF that demanded India's removal from the watch list, and its arguments were echoed by the two commissioners in their public dissent.

Besides Rao, the author of HAF's annual Hindu human rights report, Suhag Shukla, HAF's Managing Director and Legal Counsel testified before the USCIRF Commissioners in Washington last month arguing that India did not belong on the watch list due to its robust human rights mechanisms and independent judiciary that comprehensively probed incidents of inter-religious violence.

They insisted that the "predatory proselytizing" supported by many US churches vitiates inter-religious harmony in India as well as other countries and must be considered in any comprehensive analysis of international religious freedom, a media release said.

"We are disappointed that the compelling evidence we presented did not move the majority of commissioners away from their deeply flawed assumptions about India," Shukla said.

"But continuing to call out bias within quasi- government bodies, such as USCIRF, that lack Hindu, Buddhist, or Sikh representation and bringing to light the damaging role that predatory proselytization plays in inter-religious relations around the globe are guiding principles and imperative for HAF," Shukla said.

Shukla and Rao offered evidence of the Constitutional and legal accommodations provided to India's minorities, including the existence of separate personal and family laws for Muslims and Christians, governmental subsidies for the annual Haj pilgrimage for Muslims and the right of all religious communities, except Hindu, to independently control their respective places of worship free from government interference.

They also highlighted India's affirmative action policies and reservations in government and educational institutions, intended to afford economic and social advantages to religious minorities.

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Tribal Christians attacked in Maharashtra

MUMBAI: A group of unidentified men barged into the homes of Christian tribals at Dasturipada in Palghar during Easter celebrations late on Sunday and attacked them with sticks. One of the tribals sustained a fracture in his hand, said an eyewitness. The Palghar police have registered a case.

The attack comes three days after a mob disrupted Maundy Thursday prayer service at Devkuppada in Palghar. No arrests have been made in both the cases. Following Thursday's incident, police forces have been deployed in large numbers at Devkuppada, which is only 2 km from Dasturipada.

Abraham Mathai, vice-chairman of the Maharashtra state minorities commission, said, "Ever since a newspaper carried a report on mass conversions, tribals are being assaulted."

Said one of the tribals, "I have not stepped out of my house since the attack on Maundy Thursday. We are living in fear."

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15,000 Christians Protest on Good Friday in India

Around 15,000 Christians walked, many barefoot, for six hours in the streets of Mumbai, India, on Good Friday enacting Jesus’ walk to the Cross and condemning growing attacks on the minority community.

This 24th Annual Lenten Walking Pilgrimage was held especially to give hope to and express solidarity with the persecuted Christians, the event’s chief organizer Joseph Dias told The Christian Post.

The gathering comprised of Christians from evangelical as well as mainline Protestant churches “apart from the Catholics, who formed the majority,” said Dias, who leads the organization behind the rally, Christian Revival Oriented Social Service.

“The mammoth serpentine procession of devotees wended its way through the city fasting and praying, some walking bare-foot and thereby embracing pain, to commemorate the first and final walk Jesus undertook over 2000 years ago,” said Fatima Corriea, the media assistant of CROSS.

Dias said around 10,000 Christians joined the march as it began from Sacred Heart Church in Khar in the suburb of Mumbai, India’s financial capital and the base of India’s film industry Bollywood, at 10.30 a.m. (local time). “Christians kept joining along the way and the numbers swelled to around 15,000 at the end.”

The Christians marched acting out the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane and finally His passion at the cross. “The likes of such a penance which normally happens in the Philippines or Latin America, came alive as the Passion Play of Christ was dramatized.”

“However, no one inflicted pain on their bodies; they just fasted and walked barefoot,” Dias clarified. The objective was to highlight the “increasing and continued attacks on Christians, including their organizations, institutions, property and businesses, and especially the plight of women and children who suffer more than the direct victims in the aftermath of persecution.”

Dias, who also heads the Catholic Secular Forum, a group which fights Christian persecution in India, pointed out that the incidence of anti-Christian violence was high mainly in the states of Karnataka, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, whose capital is Mumbai.

In these states, Christians also face false charges under anti-conversion legislation and other laws, Dias complained. Freedom of religion acts, known as anti-conversion laws, are in force in five Indian states. Vaguely defined, some of these laws require prior permission from authorities for any religious conversion.

Christians, around 2.3 percent of the country’s population of over 1.2 billion, came under attack after the Rightwing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party won the 1998 general election. The attacks were part of a BJP’s strategy to compel the people to vote along communal lines and thereby gain an edge over the Grand Old Party, the Indian National Congress, which has traditionally seen religious minorities as their vote-bank.

Although the BJP lost the following elections in 2004 and 2009, Christians do not seem too happy with the Congress party either. The Good Friday rally was also to protest the ruling government’s “apathy” towards Dalit Christians, Dias said.

The Indian constitution gives affirmative action rights to the millions of people who are “low caste” as per the caste hierarchy in the Hindu society. However, if a Dalit converts to Christianity or Islam, she or he loses those rights.

India has over 17 million Dalit Christians and they have been demanding restoration of their rights, but the incumbent government led by the Congress party remains non-committal.

Dias also pointed out that a Dutch missionary, Father Jim Borst, had been asked to leave India, “after almost 50 years of selfless service” in Indian Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region. He added that southern and north-eastern parts of the country which had been peaceful vis-à-vis Christian persecution until recent years had also become hostile to the Christian minority.

Since 2008, India has witnessed between 100 and 200 attacks on Christians, including rape, arson, murders and mass killings, every year.

But the persecution needed to be fought prayerfully and peacefully in line with the spirit of the Lenten season, Dias stressed. “Our rally offers thousands of Christians, who partake in the procession, an opportunity to deny one’s self of daily comforts and do penance on an auspicious day.”

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Maharashtra government orders inquiry into tribal conversions

After the state government last week asked police to inquire into reports of large scale conversions of tribals to Christianity in Thane district, Christian groups have asked the state home minister to take action against those who made the allegations.

The findings of the inquiry are expected to be placed before the state assembly, which is in session, this week. The inquiry was ordered after a front page report in a Marathi daily said that in the last 10 years, lured by gifts of cash or fear of god, a large number of tribals have converted to Christianity.

The Maharashtra State Minorities Commission has written to state home minister RR Patil to take action against people responsible for the allegations if the inquiry fails to confirm the report. The inquiry was initiated to inquire into allegations about conversion centres, the holy pilgrimage, prayers meetings and sale of property to finance the pilgrimage. The investigation was to be done by the superintendent of police, Thane (rural).

The report pointed at villages that form part of the constituency of minister of state for tribal development Rajendra Gavit as places where the maximum religious conversions have taken place. It said that the main centres for religious conversions were two healing centres where cash was offered as reward for changing the religion.

Dr Abraham Mathai, vice president of the State Minorities Commission said, “I have met some of the people who are supposed to be travelling to Israel. None of them have a passport.”

Protestant groups working in the area denied there were mass religious conversions. They also denied that conversions were carried out in places advertised as centres of healing.

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Profiling of Christians in Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh conducting survey of Christians

Bhopal: Is the Shivraj Chauhan-government in Madhya Pradesh profiling the Christian population in the state?
NDTV has accessed a shocking state government circular issued in March this year. Distributed by the police headquarters, all 50 districts in the state have been asked to submit details on each member of the Christian community in that district.
These details include:

• Financial status
• Foreign income, if any
• Political leanings
• Criminal record, if any
• Total strength of the community
• Break up of Protestants and Catholics
• Number of churches - existing and upcoming
• Number of Christian schools
• Number of Christian teachers

The Christian Community in the state is wary of this new development. "There is some hidden agenda behind it otherwise such sort of profiling I don't think a democratic country permits," says Father Muttungal, the spokesperson of the Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh.
"I went to meet the DG, the delegation of all people, and DGP says he has no information about this and he told the people concerned to immediately stop it," he added.
The state's intelligence agencies are completely denying the circular and the Law & Order department says it has no clue who sent it out.
"Neither the state government wishes this type of profiling, nor the police headquarters. We are looking into who issued it," Ashok Kumar Saini, Inspector General Intelligence in Madhya Pradesh Police, told NDTV.

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Madhya Pradesh orders survey of all Christians in state

Bhopal : An official survey ordered by the police headquarters here seeks to find out details about the Christian population in Madhya Pradesh, including their total strength, the political patronage they enjoy, the source of funding of Christian schools and the number of churches in the state.

The order, issued by police headquarters on March 22, asks officers-in-charge of police stations to file reports within “10 days”. The survey, at the district and tehsil level, must include:

Number of Christians, with a break-up of Catholics and Protestants, where they stay, and their economic status.

Details of schools run by Christian bodies — numbers of staff and students, source of income, whether they get foreign funding.

Number of existing and under-construction churches, with details of the fathers/ bishops heading them.

A list of Christians involved in criminal activities, with details about whether they enjoy any political patronage, and their clout.

Details of annual functions held at district and tehsil level, including venues, organisers and funds.

Areas which are sensitive because of their Christian population.

The matter became known after officials of Ashta police station in Sehore district reportedly threatened to arrest a priest who refused to cooperate in the survey.

Members of the Christian community met senior police officers, and were assured that the survey would be immediately stopped. But two days ago, the police approached the office of Fr Anand Muttungal, spokesman of the Catholic Church, in Bhopal, seeking details about the community members in his area. When he asked them the purpose of the survey, they showed him a copy of the circular.

“Are we criminals that the government is profiling us,” said Fr Muttungal.

The community approached Director General of Police S K Raut, who reportedly said he was not aware of any such exercise.

Additional DGP R K Shukla told The Indian Express that orders had been issued to stop the survey. “There will be no profiling of the community,” he said.

Minister of State for Home Narayan Kushwah claimed that he was not aware of the survey.

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Hindutva groups planning attacks on Christians in Karnataka

Hindutva right-wing organisations are planning raids on Christian institutions across the state in backward districts such as Bijapur, Bidar and Raichur.

They are intrigued by the large presence of students from Mangalore living in such institutions. They have many questions for which there are no answers from government officials.

“Our questions to the social welfare department have not been answered. The department officials have not found out why such large number of children are coming to Mangalore from great distances and why they are lodged here in hideous places without basic facilities,” said district president of Bajrang Dal Jagadish Shenva.

“In the coming days, our colleagues in Bidar, Bijapur and Raichur will investigate into the en-masse movement of children to Mangalore,” Shenva said.

Teachers of these institutions have the answer to their questions.
“We’ve found that they are the children of first generation religious converts in backward districts. They were sent here for Christian upbringing as their parents are illiterates and ignorant. They might have been converted due to social needs but their children should not suffer poverty, hunger, ignorance and ill health like their parents did,” said a teacher serving in one of the congregations.

Lynette AC, provincial superior, Apostolic Carmel, Karnataka Province, said Stella Maris Orphanage is managed by the sisters of Apostolic Carmel Congregation and the 41 children were the inmates of Stella Maris Orphanage, Kotekar, and that they hailed from Bidar district. They are also the students of Stella Maris Primary School managed by the sisters.

The child welfare committee constituted by the social welfare department found that the children were indeed bonafide students of Stella Maris School. The chairperson of the committee Asha Nayak had given permission to the children to go to Bidar for being with their families for summer vacation. But the deputy director of the social welfare department Shakuntala Gowda had not permitted the children to leave without further enquiry into the
incident.

Sister Lynette said, “We have incurred a loss of `25,000 paid to the transport company towards hiring a bus to take the children to Bidar.”

In the meantime, the assistant commissioner of Mangalore Prabhulinga Kavalkatti went through the rule book and found out that such mass movement of children for educational purpose or otherwise needs to be cleared by the deputy commissioner of Bidar district and a document to that effect was not available with the children’s escort Sister Jyothi Maria.

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Bajrang Dal denounced for targeting Christian institutions in Mangalore

A panel of leaders from various communities has condemned the attacks and raids on Christian charity homes in Mangalore district. In protest against the action by the child welfare committee and social welfare department, allegedly on instigation by the Bajrang Dal, people from different communities are planning to hold a meet in front of the district office on Monday.

“Social service, charity and brotherhood are hallmarks of Christianity which takes up the uplift of the poor and destitute who are not taken care by the society. But the Bajrang Dal and other Hindutva groups are unnecessarily out to tarnish the image of the community,” said a panel of community leaders in condemnation of the attacks and raids on the Christian charity homes by the child welfare committee (CWC), and social welfare department on the instigation of Bajrang Dal.

Mariamma Thomas, convenor of the panel, said that the attack on Christian institutions would have a negative impact. “If every Christian institution doing social service is attacked, a day will come when there will be no individual or institution to take care of the poor and destitute. It is very rude to ascribe motives to individuals and institutions when they are doing real social work. Mangalore has become a convenient centre for creating state-wide communal tensions,” she said.

Suresh Shetty, a social worker, said CWC and the social welfare department were being guided and led by Bajrang Dal. “Together they have framed a few Christian institutions and individuals including the owner of Jillus Caterers, Ebenezer prayer hall in Haleyangady, Lancelot Pinto and the recent attack on Stella Maris School children near PVS Circle were all pre-planned and targeted to damage communal harmony,” said Shetty.

Leaders of Ahinda, Karnataka Dalit Sangarsh Samithi, CITU, Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha and Karnataka Christ Union termed the attacks as a design to foment communal tensions for political gains.

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BJP backed Karnataka's anti-Christian strife

PANAJI: A copy of a report condemning attacks on Christians in Karnataka by communal forces in 2008 was handed over to the Archbishop of Goa and Daman, Filipe Neri Ferrao, on Tuesday.

The report was prepared by Justice (retd) Michael Saldanha, formerly of the Bombay high court, who relied on the findings of the independent people's tribunal into the events that had occurred.

"Incidents of anti-Christian violence in Karnataka in 2008 were representative of the hidden agenda of the party in power, the BJP, driven by a very strong casteist force," the report stated.

Saldanha said that the matter had raised a national debate on the credibility of judicial commissions. It may be noted that the Justice Somasekhara commission, appointed by the Karnataka state government, exonerated the RSS from the incidents.

Saldanha visited over 400 places and examined almost 3,000 witnesses/victims besides relying on forensic evidence and media reports to draw his conclusions.

"Every one of the attacks and incidents which took place were instigated and pre-planned. They were state-sponsored and were not only supported by the state but were covered up for by the state. The responsibility for this devolves squarely on the home minister B V Acharya and chief minister B S Yediyurappa," stated the report.

"In all the incidents involving violence, the principal culpability rests with the state machinery namely the police department. Not a single instance of violence - be it lathi charge, use of teargas, smashing of vehicles and church property or religious objects - can either be condoned or justified. These are all rank criminal offences for which the concerned officers and staff deserve to be prosecuted. I have named some of the police officers who have crossed all conceivable limits, who, even at this stage, deserve to be suspended, an enquiry held, and dismissed from service and prosecuted. The same applies to the then DC, Mangalore,' the report stated.

'The use of lethal and toxic gas which emanated from teargas shells which were beyond the expiry date by 4 to 6 years was not only criminal but life threatening, and is reminiscent of the use of fascist methods by the Nazis who gassed six million Jews to death. The procurement of pebbles, the arming of the saffron militants with lathis and other deadly weapons and use of these persons against members of the minority community was totally unjustified and criminal,' it further stated.

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Catholic Priest attacked in Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal : 30/03/2011, A catholic priest, Fr. Sebastian Kaiparambil aged about 45, was attacked in Badwha, Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh. The incident took place around 2.30 am in the early morning of today. He was sleeping in his room while three unidentified persons entered in his room. They beat him up and he is admitted in Chauitram Hospital, Indore. He is under going treatment for head injury. The culprits have stolen around fifty thousand rupees and two mobiles too.

Public Relation Officer of the Khandwa Diocese, Fr. Philip Kadthanam who visited the incident site said, “incident is very serious, he is very badly beaten.” He said that there is also an anxiety that whether a dismissed teacher a day before is involved in the incident. While beating him they were asking him to hand over the documents, but they did not specify what documents they are looking for.”

The principal of the school Sr. Rita said, “the teacher was dismissed upon the numberless complaints from the parents and teachers. He has been served notices many times but we are not sure whether he is involved in the incident.”

He is the Parish Priest of St. Mary’s Church and manager of the St. Mary’s Convent School in the Diocese of Khandwa for the last just one year. Bishops Dr. Durairaj, while condemning the incident said that Father Sebastian is a very active missionary, his relations with people are very good.”

Town Inspector, Mansingh Takur, told, “we are looking into all possibilities, even though the name of the doubtful teacher is not mentioned , we are also investigating the matter. We are also taking all steps possible to nab the culprits. We will also give sufficient security to Christians.”

Meanwhile Archbishop Dr. Leo Cornelio, Chairman of the Bishops Council, M.P, has submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister sitting present beating up of the Priest and the recent incident of Statue break at Jhabua (18/03/2011),where so far no one has been arrested. We are not sure of the persons involved in the incident of beating up of Fr. Sebastian but we are worried about the incident. It is to be noted that every time during the major Christian Festivals we face these types of incidents so we have approached the administration to nab the culprits and provide security to Christians in the State.

It is to be recalled that the Bishops Council of Madhya Pradesh, Fr. Anand Muttungal, has already filed a cases in the Madhya Pradesh High Court asking to take action on the erring officials in taking action against the people who attacked the Christians in the State for the last five years. The Council is thinking of brining theses incidents to the notice of the Court if the police fail to take proper action on the culprits.

Fr. Anand Muttungal

PRO & Spokesperson

Catholic Council of Bishops, M.P

12 tribals arrested for conversion in Orissa

Twelve tribals were arrested today for allegedly undergoing religious conversion in an illegal manner in Orissa's Mayurbhanj district while efforts were on to nab two pastors and another tribal.

The arrest came three days after a case was registered on Saturday against 15 persons - two Baptist pastors and 13 tribals - for alleged involvement in illegal conversion in, Mayurbhanj district, police said today.

The case was registered after it was found that 13 tribals of Rasgobindpur area had been converted in an illegal manner by the two pastors, Inspector In-Charge of Rasgobindpur police station, Santosh Das said.

The 12 tribals arrested from Rasgobindpur area were produced before a court here which sent them to jail, while the pastors and another tribal were yet to be traced, he said.

The pastors, identified as Samuel Mohapatra and Manuel Mohapatra of Balasore, as well as the tribals were found to have violated the provisions of Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, he said adding permission of the district authorities is mandatory for undertaking any religious conversion.

The conversion of the 13 tribals, belonging to four villages, had taken place during the last two-three days, police said.

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Manoj Pradhan out again

CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Friday granted bail to BJP MLA Manoj Pradhan in the Kandhamal riot case. Justice Sanju Panda granted conditional bail to Pradhan on a personal bond of `20,000 and two sureties.

The bail was granted on certain conditions like Pradhan would not leave the country without the permission of the trial court and refrain from influencing the evidences and witnesses related to the case. This is the second time the high court has granted him bail.

The G Udaygiri MLA had surrendered at a Phulbani fast track court on March 9 after the Supreme Court set aside the bail granted to him by the Orissa High Court. The MLA was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment by the fast track court on June 29, 2010, in connection with the murder of Bikram Nayak during the Kandhamal communal riots.

Nayak was killed at Barepanga village within Raikia police limits on August 27, 2008. Pradhan had moved the high court against the order and secured bail on July 7, 2010. However, Nayak's widow Kanakrekha, moved the Supreme Court challenging the high court order. The apex court on January 25 had withdrawn the bail granted by the high court. After surrendering, the MLA had once again appealed for bail in the high court.

"The high court granted bail to Manoj Pradhan on the condition that he will not influence the witnesses and leave the country without the permission of the trial court," Pradhan's counsel Sarbeswar Behera said.

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