Hindu fundamentalists attack Christian birthday party celebration alleging forced conversions in Madhya Pradesh

Around 15 extremists belonging to Hindu fundamentalist groups ambushed a group of pastors who were guests at a private function at Dumartola, Bajag Village, near Dindori, Madhya Pradesh.

Pastor Mannulal Rajdwar (63), Rev. Dinesh Ramteke, Pastor Tirath Patta and Pastor Vimlendra Jhariya were invited for a birthday party at a local Christian’s house at Dumartola. Around 100 people were in attendance.

After a brief prayer service led by Rev. Ramteke from the Assemblies of God Church Jabalpur and party celebrations, the pastors were leaving the host’s house, when around 15 people arrived with weapons and started threatening the pastors with dire consequences alleging that they were converting people to Christianity.

The attackers were accompanied by the local TV news channel crew from Bansal TV which demonstrates that the attack was well thought of and the TV crew was recording each moment of the proceedings.

When the present Christians, especially the ladies confronted the attackers, they did not beat the pastors but kept on abusing them, till the police came.

It turned out that the attackers had already lodged a complaint at the police station before gate crashing the Christian party.

The police took the pastors to the police station, where they were questioned, but were let go when certain agencies intervened.

No FIR was filed against the Christians or by them. But this incident clearly demonstrates how the fundamentalists are emboldened by the local vernacular media (print and audio visual).

Christians targeted in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh.

News reports like the above highlight Christian evangelism as though it was a crime. At the same time the newspaper itself acts as an evangelism tool for the majority community (See clips below). All the clips are from the same day. How do we address hatred spread by the so called news media? If the newspaper is merely reporting incidents, then why does the headline sound like an accusation and judgment together? (Pralobhan dekar dharmantaran ki koshish)

Meanwhile attempts to bail the pastors have proved futile. The lower court has rejected their bail application.

  

Pastors arrested in India after being beaten up

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Pastor Mallik Arjun knew something was wrong when he received a call from the mobile phone of his friend and fellow pastor in Gadag District, Karnataka state – but it was a stranger on the other end of the line.

The stranger told him that Pastor Nagesh Naik was being held at a hotel near Korlahalli village and to come and find him. It was a Sunday evening, Feb. 3, after Pastor Arjun's colleague had led a home worship of the Gypsy Mission church in a neighboring village.

"I went with three church members on two motorbikes, and we were looking for such hotel all through the way and could not find one," Pastor Arjun, of the Indian Pentecostal Church, told Morning Star News. "Finally we found a mob swelling up in a temple, and that was where they kept him – and as soon as we reached the temple, they accused us of forceful conversion and started to attack me, Pastor Nagesh and the other three Christians."

At Hanumanthappa temple in Korlahalli village, near Mundargi, the Hindu extremists beat and kicked the Christians, threatened to set them on fire and tried to force them to worship Hindu idols, Pastor Arjun said.

"They told us they will rape our wives and give twin children to us," he said. "I have never heard such foul abuse in my entire life."

Earlier, at about 7 p.m., some 200 Hindu extremists led by Laxman Gaji and another who goes by a single name, Gudadirayya, had stopped Pastor Naik as he made his way home after leading a worship service at a Christian's home in Sugar Factory quarters, near Sharanahalli village, according to attorney Moses Muragavel. They then took him to the temple before calling Pastor Arjun, said Muragavel, of the Karnataka Legal Aid Cell.

At one point during the ordeal, Pastor Arjun said, he kneeled down in a corner of the temple and began to pray.

"One extremist gripped me on my back, dragged me up and said, 'You are even praying to Jesus even in a Hindu temple,' and then he tried to force me to worship Hindu idols," he said. "I asked him why he was forcing me to worship idols and told him that nobody can force me, and I have the right to choose the God that I worship."

Pastor Naik added that the Hindu nationalists then threatened to set the Christians afire with kerosene.

"They were shouting to each other to take petrol from our bikes and burn us up," he said, adding that another extremist stopped them, saying, 'Do you want the whole village to go to jail?'"

Pastor Arjun said that the assailants then demanded that they leave Jesus and proclaim, "Praise my motherland, praise Lord Ram and praise Lord Krishna."

"I told them that I will never leave Jesus – that I can say, 'Praise my motherland,' but I will never say Jai Shree Ram or Jai Shree Krishna," Pastor Arjun said. "The extremists became more furious, and they continued to slap, kick and push us, and tore off our clothes."

The extremists also denigrated Pastor Naik for his Lamani ("gypsy") ethnic origin, saying he had converted to Christianity because he came from low caste, said Pastor Francis Xavier, president of Gadag Pastor Association.

Pastor Arjun received treatment at Mundargi Government Hospital for injuries to his right ear, back and nose, as did Pastor Naik for injuries to his head and neck, besides bruises covering his body. The other three church members received minor bruises.

Charges
The Hindu nationalists took the Christians to Mundargi Rural Police Station at about 10:30 that night and filed a complaint of forcible conversion. The two pastors were released at about 5 a.m. on Feb. 4 but had to report back to the police station at 10 a.m.

Police charged them with "promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs," and "acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention" under the Indian Penal Code.

The pastors were released on bail on Feb. 7, but they have to report to the police station on the second Sunday of every month until the charges against them are dropped.

Last Sunday (Feb. 10), Police Inspector Sunil A. Savdi and two officers from the Mundargi Police Station went to the Indian Pentecostal Church and questioned members about how long they had attended the church; how they came to know about it; and whether they had been offered money to attend.

All members said that they had come to the church on their own free will.

Indian evangelist and mother jailed in Karnataka

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An Indian evangelist and his mother were jailed in India's southwestern state of Karnataka for their evangelism activities amid a wider crackdown on Christians, before being released on bail, their supporters told BosNewsLife Monday, February 18.

Evangelist Pradeep, 30, and Chowdamma, 60, "are the latest victims of persecution of Christians in Karnataka by the fundamentalist Hindus" who oppose their mission which include "fearlessly demonstrating...faith in Christ’s teachings," said advocacy group Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC).

"We at GCIC were able to bail out our brother Pradeep [and his mother]", GCIC representative Regi Abraham told BosNewsLife.  "They were released February 11," after three days behind bars, he said. The exact amount of the bail was not immediately announced.

Both Christians, who apparently only use one name, are part of the Karnataka Evangelical Ministry of Mysore, a mission group.

PRAYER MEETING ATTACKED

Witnesses said troubles began Friday, February 8, when both visited two Christian women, Jyothi and Lakshmi, to pray for them at their hom in Bellahalli village in the state's Mandya District.

While the evangelist and his mother began praying, some 20 Hindu militants of the hardline Nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or 'National Volunteer Organization' reportedly barged into the house.

The militants allegedly intimidated and physically attacked both Pradeep and his mother Chowdamma, accusing them of "forced conversion of Hindus to Christianity."

Christians said both of them were injured in the attack, with Evangelist Pradeep sustaining injuries on his lips as well as a number of bruises on his face.

"The Hindu radicals then forcibly took both the mother and the son by bus to the Pandavpura Police Station and handed them over to the police falsely alleging that the two were fraudulently and forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity by offering them money," GCIC said.

POLICE LAUNCHING INVESTIGATION

After they were hospitalized, police began criminal proceedings on charges of "forced conversions", sending them to pretrial detention in the Mandya Sub Jail, before GCIC managed to finance their conditional release, Christians said. It was not yet clear when the trial of the accused would start.

Police could not immediately be reached for comment, but Karnataka is among several states where authorities are cracking down on "forced conversions" a word often used for evangelism activities, according to rights activists.

Evangelical Christians have denied wrongdoing, saying the Bible makes clear that faith in Jesus Christ is only based on a free, personal choice, and  that other religions it is impossible to "convert" people by force.

Local officials have been pressured by Hindu militants to crackdown on the spread of Christianity, including among Dalits, considered the 'lowest caste' in India's ancient system of Hinduism.

India, a heavily Hindu nation of over 1 billion people, has seen a rise in attacks against devoted Christians and their churches, including in Karnataka.

Christian arrested in Andhra Pradesh

On 10 February, police arrested Mr. P. Anand in Basara, Adilabad, Andhra Pradesh after Hindu extremists accused him of forceful conversion.

According to reports from EFI, Mr. P. Anand , a Central Government servant, visited some Christian students on their request in Rajiv Gandhi University in Knowledge and Technologies in Basara, Adilabad, Andhra Pradesh for some academic discussion and prayers in one room.

Suddenly, a group of Hindu extremists forcefully entered the room, verbally abused them and accused Anand of forceful conversion and contacted the local police in Basara.

Subsequently, Satish Kumar, Sub Inspector of Police, reached the college and took Anand to the Police Station for verification and thereafter booked a case against him under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code including 153 A for Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion.

Mr. P. Anand was released on bail at about 5 pm on 12 February.

Pastors arrested in Karnataka – EFI report

On Feb 3 in Mundargi, Gadag District, police arrested Pastor Mallik Arjun and Pastor Nagesh Naik after the Hindu extremists beat them up.

EFI reported that at about 7: 00 p.m. the extremists stopped Pastor Nagesh Naik on the road as he was returning home after conducting a prayer meeting, verbally abused him and took him to Hanumanthappa temple. Later they called up Pastor Arjun and told him to come to a hotel where they took Pastor Naik.

Pastor Arjun went with three church members and found Pastor Naik in a Hindu temple surrounded by a mob of about 200 extremists.

"They started pushing, slapping and kicking at us as soon as we entered the temple and accused us of forceful conversion." informed pastor Arjun. The extremists also threatened us that they will sexually assault our wives and give us twin children, he added.

The extremists also abused Pastor Naik on his Lamani Caste and told him that he has converted to Christianity because he has come from the lowest caste, reported our correspondent.

Thereafter they took the two pastors to the police station at about 10:30 p.m. and they were kept in custody till 5 a.m the next day.

On the same day, the Christians reported back at the police station at about 10:00 a.m and they were sent to the Central jail later in the evening. The Christians were released on bail on 7 Feb.

"Four Hindu extremists were also arrested under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Atrocity Act 1989 and were sent to the Central jail for abusing Pastor Nagesh Naik on the base of his Lamani Caste" reported Advocate Moses Muragavel from the Karnataka Legal Aid Cell.

Christian workers arrested in Orissa

On 18 January in Dubia village, Baripada district, police arrested two Christians, Bahadur Murmu and Rama Soreng from New Creation Church when they were having a prayer meeting in the house of one Christian.

According to EFI, which reported the incident, the police came with Hindu extremists who accused the Christians of forceful conversion and hurled verbal abused at them.

The police arrested Bahadur Murmu and Rama Soreng under the Odisha Freedom of Religion Act based on the extremists complaint against them of forceful conversion.

Pastor Rajesh Digal, area pastor said "There was a great positive transformation among the convert Christians after they accept Christ and this angered the extremists."

The Christians were sent to Baripada jail and they were released on bail on 20 Jan at 6:30 p.m.

Evangelists arrested by police in Andhra on complaint of RSS and Hindu Vahini members

P. Anand, a Christian based in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh was ambushed by members of the RSS and Hindu Vahini on February 10, 2013. He was later arrested.

Anand who is also a NTPC employee at Ramgundam and a volunteer with Evangelical Union had gone to conduct a Bible study, as usual, with Christian students belonging to the EU. The students had gathered at the IIIT Basar which is in Adilabad District of Andhra Pradesh.

On the complaint of the RSS and Hindu Vahini member Mr. Ravi Pandey, the police arrested Anand and he was charged under three sections of the Indian Penal Code.

He was finally bailed out on February 12, 2013 after much effort.

Christians attacked by mob in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh

A Christian meeting was attacked by a violent mob comprising of Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena people in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh on February 8, 2013.

The India Christian Assembly Church of God which is based at Rajnandgaon for the last 20 years was observing a three day revival meeting.

The ministry was also having a graduation ceremony for around 14 students who had completed a six months theological course from the Church institute.

According to reports, around 300 people were in attendance at the time of the attack which was aroubnd 3 pm.

The attackers were carrying weapons and used them to strike the crowds which dispersed as soon as the attack started.

Women and children too were not spared but were beaten up mercilessly. According to reports the attackers kicked the children and stomped on them. They also tore bibles, abused Christian gods and shouted slogans against the Christian community.

The police were called as soon as the attack started but they did nothing and remained mute spectators while the Hindutva organizations wreaked mayhem on the people left for nearly three hours. 

Christians were stranded in bus stations and train stations for hours after the incident, many in injured conditions and needed help.

Some of the injured who had been admitted in the hospital have disappeared from there.

Persecution report 2012 released by Indian Christian Voice in Mumbai

MUMBAI: A group of Christians on Monday released a report that "documents" 131 instances of violence against the community in 2012 across the nation. It claims most attacks were led by Hindu organizations with tacit support from the local police.

The group said Karnataka recorded 37 attacks, Chhattisgarh 21 and Madhya Pradesh 18. From the state, five instances were cited.

At a press meet, Abraham Mathai, president of Indian Christian Voice, released the annual 'Christian Persecution Report' issued by Richard Howell of the Delhi-based Evangelical Fellowship of India. "Hate crimes against tribal Christians are compounded by police apathy," Mathai said. "If the police could drive out gangsters like Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan, can they not stop these Hindu fanatics?"

The group was accompanied by Mahatma Gandhi's great-grandson Tushar Gandhi at the release. Tribals from Jawhar, Mokhada and Wada in Thane were also invited to give testimony of attacks in the state.

TOI spoke to officers at Jawhar and Mokhada police stations, who refuted allegations of complicity. "In 2012 not one complaint of violence on Christians was received at Jawhar, which encompasses 52 gram panchayats. These allegations are part of baseless propaganda," an official said.

The Mokhada police said an offence was registered against a dalit faith healer who claimed to pray and cure dreaded diseases with sips of mineral water. "He was a dalit, not a Christian, and was booked under the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act. We also registered a case against the villagers who assaulted him after being cheated. No one is allowed to take the law in their hands," an officer said.

John Dayal of the All India Christian Council, who helped compile the report, said incidents of violence were down from 140 in 2011, but cautioned that "many incidents go unreported".

"There has been a marginal decrease in incidents of violence, down from 140 in 2011, but many incidents go unreported," Dayal said. "This dip may not necessarily mean that the incidence has reduced."

The Catholic Secular Forum also said Hindus disrupted a prayer meeting of 600 people in Sawantwadi on January 11.

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Martyrdom of Christians in India Obscured by Under-Reporting

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Four Christians in India died for their faith last year, but incomplete information obscured the anti-Christian hostility in three of the deaths, sources said.

In Tamil Nadu and West Bengal states where the killings took place, area Christians assert that the murders were rooted in opposition to Christianity; specifically, radical Hindus viewing Christianity as a threat to Hinduism and Indian nationalism as a unified identify. In three of the four deaths, however, under-reporting obscured the acts or motives of the attackers.

In India's eastern state of West Bengal, where two brothers were hacked to death, villagers suspected the men's wives were practicing witchcraft, according to local press accounts and area Christians. A mob in Palashpari village, near Malda, attacked 38-year-old Sonua Pahari and 32-year-old Baishakhu Pahari with swords, sickles, rods and stones as they lay sleeping in their homes on May 17 at 11 p.m. Area Christians and local press reported that the assailants believed the brothers' wives had used witchcraft to inflict illness on members of the community.

Express News Service cited one police official as saying, "… they were killed due to belief in witchcraft," and another who said one victim's family "… believed in modern [medical] treatment, which made them unpopular in the village."

In the version published by local press, the assailants were reportedly targeting their wives and ended up killing the men in the process.

Area Christians acknowledged that the two Christians' families were not consulting the village magic-arts healer, and that the indignant shaman therefore had incited the villagers by telling them that the brothers or their wives were sorcerers responsible for ailments in the community.

The families had left the shaman and other local customs behind when they became Christians, they said.

"Enlightened by the gospel of Jesus Christ, their lifestyle had also become different, which caused jealousy among the villagers," one source told Morning Star News.

Out of fear of hostile repercussions, Christian leaders had kept silent about the brothers' faith as the primary cause of the mob's rage, so their understanding did not appear in local press reports, area Christians said. But they later told Morning Star News that villagers several times had told the brothers to leave Christianity, and as a result of their refusal to do so the families were socially and economically shunned and prohibited from fetching water from the public well.

The nature of the attack demonstrated that the men's faith was the root cause of the mob rage, they said. The mob dragged the brothers from their house, attacking their wives and children only when they tried to rescue them from the assailants, they said. One brother's wife was injured in the attack, while the other's escaped with her children.

Sonua Pahari's son witnessed what happened. He told a Christian leader from the area that the mob mocked the two brothers.

"The elder brother, Sonua Pahari, was kneeling and holding his Bible, but the extremists took it from him and threw it away," the Christian leader said, based on the witness of Sonua Pahari's son. "They first cut both his hands with a knife and mocked, 'Where is your God? Call your God to help you.' Sonua replied, 'It is my God's will that I will live or that I will die.' He did not run at all or seem frightened. Then they killed him and his younger brother."

The mob struck the heads of the brothers with their traditional weapons, and they died on the spot, the Christian leader said. Since the attack, none of the area Christians has undertaken any ministry in the area, he added; fear that a similar fate may befall them has paralyzed active faith. The brothers' widows have since moved to another area.

"It is truly a case of martyrdom," the Christian leader said. "Once when we filmed the 2008 Orissa anti-Christian violence, Sonua Pahari told his wife that he will also be killed in the same way for Christ, and that his death will draw people towards Christ. Both brothers were humble and strong followers of Christ."

Most of the mob members have fled and are in hiding, but police arrested Bhola Bihari, Tofa Pahari and Fagu Pahari in connection with the murder.

Tamil Nadu
A month later in Tamil Nadu, in the southern-most eastern part of the nation, Hindu extremists attacked a predominantly Christian village, causing one death while the assailants and police insisted the 55-year-old man died of natural causes.

Pastor Samuel Ramachandran of the Immanuel Prayer House told Morning Star News that armed extremists led by Super Anjedan, village head in Vanagiri Sirkali Talug, Nagapattinam, on the evening of June 23 looted and destroyed four homes because of the owners' faith in Christ. The attack wounded 15 Christians, two seriously, Jesurai Kaliaperumal and Rajendran Mahaligam.

Rajendran Mahaligam's father, a 55-year-old Christian who went by the single name of Mahalingam, was traumatized by the attack on his son and others and went into some form of shock in which he lost consciousness, possibly including cardiac arrest, Pastor Ramachandran told Morning Star News. The elder Mahaligam died the next day (June 24) while his son still lay on his hospital bed.

Pastor Ramachandran said the Hindu extremists threatened to kill anyone who tried to attend to the corpse. Police and Hindu extremists reported that Mahalingam died of natural causes, while Christians insisted that the attack was responsible for the "natural causes." If Mahaligam did not die for his faith, they say, he died as a result of an attack on the Christian faith.

The attack came after the district administration had tried unsuccessfully to broker a reconciliation meeting between the Christians and irate Hindu nationalists, and a state minister had visited to request that the Christians not be disturbed. After the state minister left, the Hindu nationalists attacked with swords and wooden rods, sources said. Terrified Christians rushed out of their homes, and most of them fled.

A previous attack had taken place on June 21, when a large group of Hindu extremists had visited the village, where about 30 of the 40 resident families were Christians, and declared a social and economic boycott against them. They ordered them to stop worshiping Christ, the sources said. The assailants had reportedly issued a similar threat a month earlier.

Christians had contacted the Poompuhar police station and registered a case, but no action was taken, area Christians said.

India's population is 74.3 percent Hindu, 14.2 percent Muslim, 1.9 percent Sikh, 0.82 percent Buddhist, and 5.8 percent Christian, according to Operation World.

Edwin Raj
Also in Tamil Nadu, widespread church protests over the killing of a Christian left no doubt that he had died for his faith.

A group of Hindu extremists on Aug. 26 went on a rampage from a house-church gathering in one village to a Christian-owned business in a nearby town, where they killed the Christian son of the shop owner, a church official told Morning Star News.

Hindu extremists first stormed the home worship of a Church of South India (CSI) gathering in Sathancodu village, near Nadaikavu, Kanyakumari, after smashing the windshield of a Christian's car parked outside.

"I was conducting a prayer meeting when suddenly the armed Hindu extremists barged in, accused me of forceful conversion and physically attacked us," said a pastor who goes by the single name of Yeshudas.

The homeowner, a Christian who goes by the single name of Gnanamuthu, went out of the house and tried to stop other extremists from doing more harm, but the assailants struck him with a wooden club, cracking his skull, one of the 15 Christians in attendance told Morning Star News. They beat the homeowner as well as his son, Johnson Gnanamuthu. The two Christians were later admitted to a local hospital, and eventually they reported the assault at the Nithiravilai Police Station.

The furious extremists then ran on to Nadaikavu, attacking Christians they found on their way, sources said. About 15 Hindu nationalists rampaged through the town and tried to destroy the shop of a Christian who had attended the prayer meeting, Jaya Rajan. His son, 35-year-old Edwin Raj, came out of his shop and tried to stop them, and the gang struck him so fiercely that he died on the way to Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College, according to the Rev. Deva Kadasham, moderator of the CSI.

Police registered a case against C. Dharmaraj, district president of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, and six others. More than 1,000 policemen were deployed in the area.

Some 150 churches in various towns in Tamil Nadu hoisted black flags in protest on Sept. 9, including the areas of Nagercoil, Arumanai, Manjalumoodu, Melpuram, Chitharal, Karode, Kuttaicode and Melparai , reported The Hindu.

Besides registering a case against Dharmaraj, police have arrested five persons in connection with the attack so far, reported a representative of CSI, Vibin John.

The BJP condemned the inclusion of the party's district head in the First Information Report regarding the murder of Raj, staging a protest by blocking some roads of the district, and police arrested 751 BJP members, including the state president, Pon. Radhakrishnan, The Hindu reported.

There were 11 cases of religious rights violations against Christians in Tamil Nadu in 2012, according to the Evangelical Fellowship of India. That figure was the fifth highest behind Karnataka with 37; Chhattisgarh with 21; Madhya Pradesh with 18; and Andhra Pradesh with 13.

Karnataka saffronising school texts: Panel

Allegations of saffronisation of school textbooks in BJP-ruled Karnataka have reached the Centre with demands for a thorough probe into “academically poor and saffronised textbooks with many a distortion and misrepresentation”.

The Committee for Resisting Saffronisation of Education has submitted a memorandum to the NCERT as well as to Human Resource Development Minister Pallam Raju alleging that the new textbooks released for class V and VIII by the Karnataka Textbook Society are for most part against the spirit of the National Curriculum Framework 2005 and have a “hidden agenda to instill and build up non-secular values, religious fundamentalism and the idea of a Hindu Rashtra in crores of young and impressionable minds”.

The NCERT is learnt to have written to their counterparts in Karnataka on the issue seeking their response on it, sources confirmed.

The committee has in its memorandum — a copy of which is with The Indian Express — said that while the new textbooks have been released by the Karnataka Textbook Society (under the DSERT), these were not subjected to scrutiny by independent or well-known educationists and nor was public opinion invited on them.

The committee has alleged that these books contain lessons that “treat Dalits, women, adivasis and minorities as inferior beings whereas NCF 2005 clearly recommends that the curriculum should be culturally neutral”. It is alleged that history presentation in the textbooks was found “toeing the line of the Sangh Parivar”.

Pointing out specific instances from the class V social science textbook, the committee has said that there is a clear anti-minority bias in content depicting Muslim kings as persecuting Hindu subjects and Hindu kings only fighting Muslim kings. An instance from the class VIII Hindi textbook refers to a lesson on ‘Punyakoti’ where a tiger takes an oath saying that “consumption of cow’s meat is a bad thought; henceforth, I will not eat cow’s meat”, whereas the original Kannada version mentions no such oath.

Demanding that the school textbooks be offered for scrutiny by the NCERT, the committee has suggested that the Karnataka Textbook Society, when preparing new textbooks, should consult its counterparts in Kerala who are considered experts in the field and invite suggestions from eminent educationists and the public.

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Gang-rapes in Kandhamal, and the apathy of government agencies towards the young victims

JOHN DAYAL

The gang rape of two Christian girls in Kandhamal, both 13 years old, and the murder of one of them subsequently during the Dussehara festival has created not just panic in their villages, but a sense of disgust among activists for the obnoxious attitude of police and the State Child Right Commission.

It was possible to meet the surviving victim because she is now with her parents who now work as casual labour in Bhubaneswar.

The first one, a class VII student of Dadamaha, had gone to witness a 'yatra'(play) at nearby Simanbadi village on Thursday night when the youths sexually assaulted her. Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), Baliguda, Arjun Barik said the girl apparently attempted to raise an alarm, she was tied to a tree and strangulated to death with her scarf. The body was found from the roadside near Masanipada village 26 October.

An autopsy was conducted on the body at Daringbadi public health centre and a case was registered on the basis of an FIR lodged by her father. There have been no arrests so far.

The second girl, a  resident of  Ritangia village in Tiangia block, was also 13-year old, and a student of class VIII in a local school. Her father is now a security guard in Bhubaneswar, and the girl lives with relatives to continue her studies. On 27th October, she went to see the Dussehara festivities, which attract a large crowd. On the way home, she was abducted by six men, taken the nearby forest, stripped naked and raped by all six of them. She collapsed.

She regained consciousness after one of the rapists sprinkled water on her face. One of them put a shirt on her and brought her close to the village. She was found in the marketplace in the morning, and taken to her aunt’s house.

Initially the local police did not help at all. She was brought to Bhubaneswar and taken to the offices of the State Commission for Child Rights. This is where she was subjected to mental torture by those designated to help children in distress. The  chairperson was rude and crude, said this was a police matter and that she could not do anything even if she believed the story of the girl.

In the all-woman Police Station set up for registering crimes against women in an environment friendly to the victims, the office on charge was absent. When Inspector Itti Das came to the office at last, she too was rude, and even more crude. According to the woman social worker who had accompanied the victim to the police station, the woman inspector said “you would not be alive if you had been gang-raped”. The implication was that  the girl was covering up, had gone with the rapists of her own accord.

The police filed a report at last, and referred the report to the Raikia police station in Kandhamal. The victim was finally given a medical examination on 3rd November, a full week after her  traumatic experience. The medical report  has not been given to the police yet.

Activists who ar now counseling the girl, who was still in a state of shock when we met her, are aghast at the manner in which the child right chief, a government appointee, and the woman police officer behaved with the girl, who is no more than a child, small and in distress.

Surprisingly, the local and state media have chosen not to investigate this story. The two gang rapes merited a passing couple of paragraphs.

Kandhamal riots probe Commission issues notice to former DGP's

Bhubaneswar: The Justice A S Naidu Commission probing the 2008 Kandhamal violence has issued fresh notices to 55 people including two former Odisha police chiefs and a former home Secretary asking them to appear before it.

Apart from former Directors General of Police Gopal Nanda and Manmohan Praharaj and the then home secretary T K Mishra, summons were also issued among others to former Rajya Sabha MP Radhakanta Nayak, commission sources said today.
Former Archbishop Raphael Cheenath, Christian leader John Dayal and former superintendent of police of sensitive Kandhamal district have also been issued notices for appearing before the one-man inquiry commission, they said.
Justice A S Naidu took over the judicial probe on October 1 into the killing of VHP leader Laxamanananda Saraswati and the riots that followed in the tribal-dominated Kandhamal district and some other places in 2008.
Justice Naidu, a retired Orissa High Court judge, was named by the state government as the one man judicial commission of the Kandhamal case after the demise of Justice Sarat Chandra Mohapatra four months ago.
The state government had set up the judicial commission on September 3, 2008 following the killing of Saraswati on August 23, 2008.
At least 38 people were killed in Kandhamal alone while the total death toll in the communal riots in the aftermath of Saraswati's death was 42 in the state.
About 4,000 houses besides some churches were burnt during the riot.
While a girl was burnt alive in Baragarh district during the riot, a nun was allegedly raped by mob at Baliguda in the district.
Of the 706 affidavits filed before the commission in connection with the riot, only 164 have so far been accepted while others were being examined.

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Kandhamal violence: SC seeks explanation from odisha govt

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Odisha Government to explain the high rate of acquittals resulting from the numerous trials into the 2008 communal violence incidents reported at Kandhamal in Odisha.

The bench of Justices RM Lodha and AR Dave sought response of the state government in eight weeks on a PIL filed by NGO Initiative to Justice Peace and Human Rights and other private persons. The incident where the majority community in the state indulged in arson and killing of Christian dalits and vandalizing their places of worship, had so far resulted in only 64 convictions out of 185 criminal trials conducted till last year.  

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PRESS STATEMENT ON THE SITUATION OF RELIGIOUS MINORITIES, SPECIALLY CHRISTIANS, IN INDIA

[The following is the text of the Press statement issued by Dr John Dayal in Rome on 16 October 2012. Dr Dayal is a Member of the National Integration Council of the Government of India, is past National President of the 93 year old All India Catholic Union and secretary general of the ecumenical All India Christian Council. He lives in New Delhi, India and can be contacted at john.dayal@gmail.com]

VIOLENCE AND HATE CRIMES AGAINST RELIGIOUS MINORITIES INCREASE AS HINDU FUNDAMENTALIST AND HYPER NATIONALIST GROUPS TARGET CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS

PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS ERODE CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEES ON FREEDOM OF FAITH, CASTE DISCRIMINATION

THOUSANDS OF CHRISTIANS DISPLACED, WOMEN TRAFFICKED AFTER THE POGROM IN KANDHAMAL, ORISSA STATE IN 2007 AND 2008; AVERAGE OF 3 CRIMES A DAY AGAINST CHRISTIANS REPORTED FROM HIGH-RISK STATES

India has one of the most diverse cultural religious pallets in the world. According to Census 2001, Hindus constitute 80.5% (827,578,868), Muslims 13.4% (138, 188,240), Christians 2.3% (24,080,016), Sikhs 1.9% (19,215,730), Buddhists 0.8% (7,955,207), Jains 0.4% (4,225,053) and other religions & persuasions constitute 0.6% of 1,028,610,328 population in India. The population is now reported at 1.25 billion, but the data of the 2011 is yet to be published. The government routinely delays religious data, as it is perceived to be of a politically sensitive nature with the Hindu majority accusing the Muslims in particular of multiplying at an alarming rate, allegedly threatening to overwhelm the majority community and their faith, an accusation not supported by demographers and cultural sociologists. There is no official data for India’s many indigenous native religions that predate Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, because the government lumps them together with Hinduism. Adherents of such numerically small religions protest, but their voice is not heard.

Surveys show that religious minorities are economically poorer and socially discriminated. This has been pointed out by human rights and civil liberties activists in their submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review which was held from March through September 2012 in Geneva. Only 6.5% have access to institutional finance, 40% [by habitation]do not have health facilities, 35% do not have education facilities and 65.02% live in huts or temporary shelter.

This press statement is based on the Report to the UPR and independent studies by the author and by the All India Christian Council.

The Constitution of India defines it as a secular state; the laws discriminate on the grounds of religion and caste. Scheduled Castes, formerly known as untouchable castes, who are given reservation in education, employment and politics, lose these if they chose to profess Christianity or Islam. The legality of the Presidential Order 1950 on which this denial rests, has been contested in the Supreme Court of India in 2004, is still in force as the government delays its response.

Religious minorities have been victims of targeted violence since India’s independence on 15th August 1947. Minister of State for Home Mr Ajay Maken told Indian Parliament there were over 6,000 cases of such violence in the first decade of the 21st century. On a lower scale, attacks take place on a regular basis in various parts of the country. In such attacks, violence against women is not incidental. Gender-based violence has played a fundamental role as an engine for mobilizing hatred and destruction against religious minorities. Violence has reached barbaric dimensions since 1992 when the historic Babri Mosque was destroyed by Hindu right wing activists in 1992. In 2002, thousands of Muslims were killed and many more thousand displaced in Gujarat. 24th August 2008 marked the beginning of gruesome violence against Dalit and Adivasi Christians in and around the Kandhamal district of Orissa.

The Kandhamal violence is the worst such recorded in the last three centuries against the Christian community. The purported trigger for the August 2008 violence against Christians in Kandhamal was the killing of Lakshmanananda, a Hindu religious leader, and four of his disciples, on 23 August 2008, by attackers unknown at the time. According to government figures, more than 600 villages were ransacked, 5,600 houses were looted and burnt, 56,000 people were left homeless and 38 people were murdered. Human rights groups estimate that over 100 people were killed, including disabled and elderly persons, children and women during the violence from August to December 2008, in Kandhamal district alone. Large number of people suffered severe physical injuries and mental trauma. Women were sexually assaulted, but many more such victims are believed to have been intimidated into silence. 295 churches and places of worship were destroyed. 13 schools and colleges or offices were damaged. Over 2,000 people were forced to renounce their Christian faith. More than 10,000 children had their education severely disrupted.

Christian organisations are reporting as many as 1,000 cases of hate crimes against the community, including violence against pastors and “home churches” in states such as Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

A major area of concern is the complicity of state and public officials through culpable actions and failure to act.

Regretfully, relief and rehabilitation have been tardy and grossly inadequate. Worse is the issue of justice. In the 30 cases of murders, there has been only one conviction. All the rest of the accused have been set free. Witnesses have been coerced and there are serious allegations of religious bigotry against civil, police and judicial officers.

There is severe structural violence as several provincial governments have criminalised conversion to Christianity. Change of religion has been a part of Indian reality. In Manipur, entire communities became Vaishnav Hindus when their King changed his faith. In Punjab and other States, many changed their faith from Hinduism to Sikhism in the early Twentieth century. The Shuddhi or purification movement, started by Swami Dayanand Saraswati, aimed to “reconvert” those who had left the folds of Hinduism. The Arya Samaj continued this trend, and now the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has sharpened it into a “Ghar Vapasi” [home coming] political campaign specially among indigenous groups who are primarily animists.

The so-called anti-conversion laws enacted by seven states including Orissa, ironically titled the Freedom of Religion Act, violate freedom of religion guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. These laws are being used to harass and intimidate those who voluntarily change their faith from Hinduism. But the same laws do not address forcible conversions to Hinduism. A general prohibition of conversion by a State necessarily enters into conflict with applicable international standards. These Acts prohibit persons from converting or attempting to convert any person from one religion to another through force, fraud or inducement. They prescribe imprisonment and fine for violations (and harsher penalties for conversion of children, women and persons belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes), and some of them prescribe a procedure for permission from state authorities prior to the intended conversion.

The religion-based matrimonial laws in India contain many provisions that adversely impact a person’s exercise of freedom of religion. Under Hindu law, if the husband gets converted into Non-Hindu faith wife is entitled to live separately without forfeiting her right of maintenance but if she herself also ceases to be Hindu, she loses her claim of maintenance. A Hindu wife will lose her right to maintenance if she converts to Islam and Christianity. Conversion also constitutes a ground for divorce.

Though provisions of the Indian Penal Code exist to tackle individual and group violence, conspiracy and creating enmity between groups, there is no legislation to deal with the particular circumstances in which violence is perpetrated against religious minorities. The National Advisory Council of the Government of India has recently evolved a draft law, provisionally called the Targeted Violence [Prevention, Control and Reparations] Bill 2011 which addresses issues of hate speech, impunity and rehabilitation, resettlement and reparations. The government has not taken necessary steps to introduce this Bill in the Parliament. The Bill however has been put in cold storage.

Lack of political will to prosecute perpetrators, inadequacy of laws and procedures to deal with mass crimes, lack of impartial investigation and prosecution and a lack of sensitivity to survivors’ experiences and needs have been among some of the major hurdles in victims’ and survivors’ access to justice and accountability The criminal justice system has failed to respond promptly and positively to targeted violence against religious minorities. One major concern is the complicity, connivance, participation in and support to the violence by public officials through acts of omission and commission. Deliberate sabotage by the police through a combination of refusal to register crimes, shoddy investigations, failure of the judiciary to appreciate the available evidence in the context of realities on the ground, and rampant intimidation of victims and witnesses makes justice for victims and survivors of religion-based targeted violence illusive.

Civil society and Christian organisations have consistently demanded a recall of the anti-conversion laws, the grant of full rights to Christians from the former “untouchable castes”, reforms in the marriage laws and enactment of a comprehensive law against communal and Targetted violence with a national code on relief, rehabilitation, reparation, witness protection and an end to impunity.

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GLOSSARY

Adivasi: Literally means “original dwellers / inhabitants” and refers to indigenous peoples or Scheduled Tribes.

Dalit: The term means “oppressed people” and refers to persons belonging to a category at the

lower end of the caste system, who are considered “untouchables

Ghar Vapasi: Literally means “return home”; it refers to rituals conducted by Hindutva forces in relation to converting a person into the Hindu fold

Shuddhi movement: A movement for converting and re-converting persons into the Hindu fold

Extremist Hindus rout Christians from rural Indian village

Hindus twice assaulted a Christian community in a rural India village early this month, beating believers, forcing them into Hindu worship rituals, and damaging their homes, according to Christian witnesses.
The Sunday worship meeting was underway Sept. 2 at the home of a new Christian, Daminbai Sahu, in Bhanpuri, a village in the Balod district of India’s state of Chhattisgarh. The witnesses said a group of villagers stormed into the house and beat several of the people attending the meeting, including a visiting pastor identified only as Dada, of the Philadelphia Fellowship.
The attackers accused Dada of forcefully converting Hindus to Christianity, the witnesses said, and dragged him out of the house. As hundreds gathered around the commotion, the extremists ordered Dada out of the village and threated to kill him if he returned, said Samuel Philip of the Church of God in Balod. They forced believers to renounce their faith in Christ late into the night, said Church of God Rev. Sandeep Claudius.
The following night, at 11 p.m., about 600 Hindu extremists stormed the houses of five Christian families belonging to the Philadelphia Fellowship, Claudius said. Led by four men he identified as Manish Sahu, Virendra Yadav, Vinod Gond, and Vinod Sahu, the mob called the Christians “pagans” and accused them of trying to forcefully convert Hindus to Christianity. They threatened dire consequences if they did not give up their faith. They broke doors, damaged the houses and household items, Christian witnesses said.
Claudius said the extremists forced the Christians to bow before Hindu idols and chant Hindu slogans.
“We will not forsake Christ even at the point of death because he has forgiven our sins and gave us new life,” one victim, Deherram Sahu, told Open Doors News.
The extremists forced Sahu and believers from three other families, Sarjuram Sahu, his wife Janakbai Sahu, and Ubhayram Sahu to leave the village at about 1 a.m., in the monsoon rain. The four reached a small town of Gurur, about 12 kilometers away, and informed the church leaders at Balod. Later they found shelter in Balod with local Christians.
Christians remaining in Bhanpuri, including children and elderly, were unable to come out of their houses.
“The Christians were banned from collecting drinking water from the village well,” Philip said. “It was raining and the Christians collect some water from the rain. However after realizing that the Christians have little water in their houses, the extremists went over to their houses and threw all their water away.”
Family members were rescued from the village after some days by area church leaders. They went to the Gurur police station, but were turned away. “He advised the believers to go back to the village and worship Hindu gods,” Philip said.
Church leaders eventually prevailed upon the police to accept the complaint, and statements from the four believers evicted from Bhanpuri have been registered. But police have not filed a first-information report detailing the assaults.
The small Christian community of Bhanpuri has faced ostracism since converting to Christianity in 2006.
“They were not allowed to sell and buy in the village, were not allowed to draw water from the well, and were treated as outcasts,” Philip said. “They were not allowed to walk on the main road because the extremists were frightened that it will get contaminated because of their faith in Christ.”
The Open Doors International World Watch List describes India as a nation where Christians generally are free, but “violence against pastors and church gatherings continues on a monthly basis, usually in rural areas.” The World Watch List documented more than 100 incidents of violence against Christians in 2011.
The Indian constitution guarantees religious freedom, but in five of India’s 28 states, including Chhattisgarh, the law also forbids forced conversion from one religion to another. Christians under pressure in those states frequently face accusations that they are actively recruiting Hindus away from their religion.
In August, the high court of India’s northern state of Himachal Pradesh reaffirmed the law’s prohibition of forced conversion. But it struck down a 2006 addition to the law, one which requires a person to give the government 30-day notice before conversion.
"A person not only has a right of conscience, the right of belief, the right to change his belief, but also has the right to keep his beliefs secret," the court ruled.

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Justice Naidu to be new head of Kandhamal Commission

Press Trust of India

Odisha government has appointed Justice A S Naidu, a retired High Court Judge, as the new head of the judicial commission probing the killing of VHP leader Laxmananda Saraswati and the subsequent communal violence in Kandhamal, official sources said today.

The functioning of the judicial commission had come to a standstill for four months due to the death of Justice Sarat Chandra Mohapatra, who had headed the panel.

The home department had already decided to install Justice Naidu to carry forward the probe and a formal official notification in this regard is expected to be issued soon, sources said.

Saraswati was killed on August 23, 2008 in Kandhamal along with four of his disciples. The entire district witnessed large-scale communal violence in which 38 people were killed and over 4,000 houses burnt.

The state government had set up a judicial commission headed by Justice Mohapatra to probe the matter from September 17, 2008. The commission has so far received nearly 700 affidavits.

Sixty-five government and 99 private witnesses have so far been examined by the commission. The examination of three witnesses were halfway through when justice Mohapatra passed away on May 12.

The crime branch is investigating the matter and it had arrested 10 persons and submitted charge sheets against 14 persons in connection with the incident.

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The course that’s been changing lives in Mumbai

MUMBAI: Every evening, when St Xavier's College turns on its yellow lights, a thousand canteen boys, sweepers, hawkers, labourers, milk vendors, clerks and receptionists wrap up a tough day's work and rush in for their lectures. Once in, they are in a world where all they are expected to do is hold a pen and pay attention.

Few in the city know about the evening course at the college. Started 24 years ago, the commerce section is perhaps a little out of sync with the loud Malhar and the campus fashion a sharp contrast to what one sees in top colleges. Also, most students don't return to a home or comforting security each day. Principal Errol Fernandes said, "The morning section was started to provide excellent education. The criterion to admit students is merit. The evening classes were started to cater to the distressed section of society and give them hope of a better life."

The classes begin with a short prayer of silence. "Students are asked to take a deep breath so they can get rid of the grime and tiredness of the day," Fernandes explained.

                                 

As the section enters its silver jubilee year, it has turned autonomous. Unlike other colleges, the attendance here is high, probably because the reason to study is different. There are no free lectures, and very often extra classes for weaker students are held on the train, during the faculty's journey back home.

For long, excellent education has mostly been the privilege of the moneyed and the meritorious. The commerce section at St Xavier's was started with the aim of breaking away from that norm. "These students are the ones who really need the help," said economics professor Kamaji Bokare. "The rate of change of life you see here is really high."

Akshay Shetty, who used to run a roadside stall outside Old Custom's House, is today a senior executive at a mutual fund firm. "I went on to do my master's and am also a cost accountant. The biggest change has been the respect I get today," says a proud Shetty. Till about five years ago, Prabhakar Poojary was a canteen boy in BEST earning Rs 600 a month. Today, he heads the Singapore, Dubai and Mauritius markets of a private fund and takes home an enviable pay packet of Rs 30 lakh. "When tough life becomes a routine, the rest becomes easy," he says.

Teachers take pride in the fact that two ex-students have made the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad—one is the vice-president of a private bank—but most importantly, they speak of the values the course has instilled in their students. Ravi Gaba was always a bright student; he bagged several cash awards in his years at St Xavier's. "When he graduated, he gave us all the cash prizes (totaling Rs 18,000) that he had won and said he wanted to leave it back for another needy student," recalled accounts professor Rajesh Vora.

Going to college means different things to different people. For some, collegiate education rebuilds their lives, for some others it is the bridge to a better path. For many others, it's a plunge out of a dark night...to a day that shines as bright as the lights on the campus they walk to each evening.

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Karnataka : Christians Attacked

Hindu extremists attack a Christian family, beat them up including two women, damaged their house and accused them of forceful conversion in Vyasmallapura Thanda, Bellary District, Karnataka.

According to reports from EFI, the extremists shouting and beating a Tahndora (drum) on May 28 blocked the believers, stopped them from going to the church and threatened them that there will be a village panchayat on Monday to pass judgment on Devendra Naik and his family for their faith in Christ.

On the same day, Naik reported the matter to the area Sub Inspector, Girish Naik, but the Inspector ignored his call, reported our correspondent.

Subsequently on the next day, a mob of about 50 extremists led by Umesh Naik broke the house of Davendra Naik, beat him up and his mother, sister and father and forcefully brought them to Sevalal temple.

Area Christian leaders intervened and the police summoned the extremists to the station and questioned them. The entire conversation was documented.

The extremists accused Devendra Naik of forcible conversion and claimed that they are ready to go to jail as well stand before the court as witnesses that Naik is involved in forceful conversion.

Thereafter, the police threatened to arrest the Christian’s family on charges of forcible conversion. However, Naik told the police that he was not involved in any kind of forceful conversion, reported our correspondent.

Area Christians leaders submitted a letter to the police officials on behalf of Naik that he was not involved in forceful conversion.

The police thereafter arranged a peace talk between the two parties and reached a compromise. Protection was given to Naik and his family and a constable was posted in the area to see the development in this issue.

In Hadagali Taluk there are about 6 Churches with 450 believers.

Indian Christians forced into Hindu worship, driven from homes

Hindu extremists forced 15 Christians to participate in Hindu worship rituals, then beat them up and rousted them from their village, according to an evangelical organization in India.
The Evangelical Fellowship of India said that on June 19, 150 Hindus rounded up 12 Christians in Jawanga, a village in the tropical Dakshin Bastar district of Chhattisgarh state, in eastern India.
The Christians were taken to the Pendevi Temple, where they were forced to worship tribal and Hindu deities, and to participate in Hindu rituals, Akhilesh Edgar of the Evangelical Fellowship of India told Open Doors News. He said the abductors then assaulted the Christians, though Edgar did not provide detail about the extent of any injuries they may have suffered.
Rather than let the Christians return home, the Hindus chased them out of the village. The Christians sought the help of John Nag, a pastor in Geelam about 5 kilometers from Jawanga, and Sonsingh Jhali, known locally as an advocate for Christians.
The Evangelical Fellowship of India said Nag and Asaram Bech, in whose house the Jawanga Christians sometimes held prayer meetings, approached the elected head of the village, who refused to permit the Christians’ return. The uprooted Jawanga villagers are staying with other Christians in Geelam, the organization said.
The evangelical group said the Christians did not file a complaint with the police, for fear of stirring religious tensions.
The June 19 episode is only the most recent example of harassment of Christians in Chhattisgarh. The Evangelical Fellowship of India reported in April that 300 residents of Belgal village disrupted the attempted burial of a man who had converted to Christianity. Ten people were injured, and the burial was completed after district authorities intervened.
At the national level, India is religiously pluralistic, encompassing the world’s third-largest Muslim population and about 25 million Christians, or about 1 of every 50 people in the country. Persecution of religious minorities generally intensifies at the regional and local levels, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Chhattisgarh is one of five Indian states that has adopted a Freedom of Religion Act, which the commission says has had the opposite effect.
“While intended to reduce forced conversions and decrease communal violence, states with these laws have higher incidents of intimidation, harassment, and violence against religious minorities, particularly Christians,” the commission concluded in its 2012 annual report.
India is listed at No. 32 on the Open Doors World Watch list of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. “Persecution is largely due to the amazing growth of Christianity among the low castes and Dalits, which threatens Hindu leaders,” according to the World Watch List. “Violence against pastors and church gatherings continues on a monthly basis, usually in rural areas.”

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How to observe the fourth anniversary of Kandhamal

By  John Dayal

On 24th August this year, Kandhamal will complete four years of its
trial by fire, gun and axe. The violence, which lasted several weeks
and saw sporadic incidents even three months later, registered over
52,000 people hiding for their life in nearby Sal forests, almost 6,000 houses burnt to the ground, more than 300 places of worship and church-run institutions destroyed, and perhaps as many as 100 persons, some of them women, killed in the most horrendous manner.

Just one person has been convicted of murder, and in other cases, frightened witnesses, bad investigation and shoddy court cases have meant that ringleaders have escaped the law. Hundreds of families still have no house, and several hundred more have not completed reconstruction because, despite massive help from the church, the money ran out. Many remain unemployed, hundreds have lost out on education, and businesses are yet to be rebuilt. At a more human level, perhaps the entire Kandhamal needs sustained trauma counselling. In the words of a young priest or pastor, “I am still afraid when I try to go back to my area.”

Patently, there is a sort of a disjunct between the efforts of the Church, which can rightly point out it has spent crores during various facets of relief and rehabilitation – from money spent in feeding refugees in the first months of the violence, to finally upto Rs 30,000 or more given to each family to reconstruct their houses because the government grant of Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 was either not forthcoming or grossly insufficient to rebuild houses where the cost came from a minimum of Rs 70,000 to upward of Rs 100,000, depending on the location and the size of the house.

In most cases, the house that was destroyed was bigger than the house that was sought to be rebuilt in the given amount of money. And no one thought of how the family would furnish the  house, and buy other commodities that make a house into a home. No one is accusing anyone in the church of corruption, but perhaps each church, Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical and Pentecost, needs to make a discreet private audit of its resources committed to Kandhamal since 2007. Funding agencies and generous churches across the country and around the world would want to know, and hope, that their donations have made a lasting difference in the lives of the victims. And there has been no government assistance in rebuilding the places of worship.

So how do we observe the fourth anniversary of the worst violence
against the Christian community in India in recent centuries, other
than in prayer and protest?

The pursuit of Justice would be a good way, I think. Justice at all levels. And holding the State – not Orissa alone, but the Indian State – to account, learning our Constitutional lessons from developments in Gujarat which saw a near genocide against the Muslim community in 2002, and the violence against Sikhs in Delhi and other cities in 1984.

The Sikhs lawyers and retired judges, and the widows, have taught us the valuable lesson of persistence in the pursuit of justice. Decades later, they have not lost  an iota of their zeal. The intensity of their passion to see that justice is done, is remarkable, and is, in fact bearing fruit. They have  shown  that it is possible to demand, and get, appropriate reparation and relief. They have also networked effectively with civil society, got the highest in the land to apologise, and have held powerful politicians accountable for their actions.

The  Muslims community, too, has proved the relevance of networking with civil society and using all means, judicial, political, and civil to get justice to the victims. The Supreme Court of India in many  epochal judgements effectively ensured justice in Gujarat. The final word is till to be said, and there is hope that political bosses, police officers and even subordinate judiciary will pay for their crimes and their abetment to crime, or impunity, before long.

Public outcry in Kandhamal too, as a matter of fact, began when the then Archbishop, Raphael Cheenath, approached the Supreme court and successfully urged it to upturn the order of the Collector, Krishan
Kumar, who had banned Christian organisations from brining relief to
the ravaged district. Cheenath was again in court seeking appropriate relief and rehabilitation. Now a group of religious have approached the Supreme Court to order a fresh look into the cases of murder in the district during the violence.

We have been advocating that Church and the victims approach the Supreme Court for a fresh investigation and retrial into all cases of murder as the so-called Fast Track Courts have seine  veritable miscarriage of justice. It has also been our case that instead of a display of charity, what rebuilding in Kandhamal needed was concerted action to ensure that that the government, through the district administration  met the entire expense, rather than give a pro rata amount decided by some bureaucrats on their whim and fancy without even determining how much  was really needed to pay for the bricks, cement, steel, wood and asbestos or steel sheets needed to build, a house. It was the governments job, many felt, to ensure reemployment, rebuilding of businesses and local self help groups which were earlier flourishing in the turmeric and ginger trade. The church relief could then have gone into rebuilding lives.

An important recent order of the Supreme Court relates to its refusing to stay a Gujarat High court order of 8 February 2012 asking the Gujarat government to pay compensation to over 500 shrines damaged during the infamous 2002 riots in the wake of Godhra train carnage. A bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra asked the state government to furnish details of the number of religious structures actually damaged and the financial cost of their reconstruction. The Gujarat government has been reluctant, saying public funds cannot be used for religious porpoises, forgetting the crores of rupees it has spent in such functions as Shabri Kumbhs in the Dangs some years ago.

High Court Acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B
Pardiwala had ordered compensation for over 500 places of worships in the state on a plea by Islamic Relief Committee of Gujarat (IRCG), an NGO. The court also ordered that principal judges of 26 districts of
the state will receive the applications for compensation of religious structures in their respective districts and decide on it. They have been asked to send their decisions to the high court within six months.

That is the way to go. Charity is easy. The pursuit of justice is not easy. It is time consuming, expensive, and needs a dedicated core team which will not accept defeat. Kandhamal needs such a pursuit of justice.