Tag Archives: Khajuripada
INDIA: WITNESSES RECEIVE DEATH THREATS IN ORISSA TRIALS
Posted on August 6, 2009 by particularkev
State blames 2008 Kandhamal district violence on conversions, 'reconversions.'
NEW DELHI, July 14 (Compass Direct News) – Nearly 11 months after an unprecedented wave of anti-Christian attacks shook the eastern state of Orissa, a reign of terror continues in the area as the former rioters issue death threats to witnesses.
Of the more than 750 cases filed in various police stations in Kandhamal district and neighboring Gajapati district, only one has resulted in conviction. Some trials are underway amid reports of armed extremists threatening to kill witnesses.
The Rev. Dibya Paricha of the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Catholic Archdiocese said several witnesses are shrinking away to save their lives. On Thursday (July 9), a witness in Salapsahi village, in the Kasinpadar area under the Phiringia police station, refused to testify in a murder case.
"During the trial, the complainant, the younger brother of the victim, said he did not know anything about the case," Paricha, coordinator of the Christian Legal Association's (CLA) legal cell in Kandhamal, told Compass. "The previous day, he had said that he would tell the truth so that the culprits would be punished … From a reliable source we came to know that he was threatened with death."
On June 30, three men carrying pistols – Sanjeeb Pradhan, Bikram Pradhan and Pratap Pradhan – threatened witnesses in the Gondaguda area of the Chenchedi Gram Panchayat administrative area, under the jurisdiction of the Sarangarh police station in Kandhamal, Paricha said.
The three men have been issuing death threats to witnesses through the area villages, he said.
"I know them [the three gunmen] personally," Paricha said. "They were living hand-to-mouth until recently, and now they are riding a motor vehicle and threatening the survivors."
Information on the threats has been provided to the sub-collector (an administrative officer in charge of a sub-district), the sub-divisional police officer and the district collector (administrative head), he said, and a First Information Report has been registered at the Sarangarh police station.
Another witness and complainant in a riot-related case, 55-year-old Batia Digal, was threatened on June 17, said Paricha. Gobida Chandra Pradhan from Piserama village and Shricharnan Mohan Pradhan from Dodaingia village in Raikia area tried to pressure Digal to withdraw the case, in which a local legislator from the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Manoj Pradhan, is one of the accused.
The Raikia police station is investigating the case.
On July 4, Christians saw a ray of hope when a fast-track court in Phulbani, Kandhamal district convicted a tribal leader of arson – the first conviction in a 2008 violence case. The court sentenced a 58-year-old Chakradhar Mallick to two years of prison and a fine of 1,000 rupees (US$20). Mallick had burned the house of a Christian, Loknath Digal, and threatened to kill him in August 2008.
But the granting of bail to one of the prime suspects in numerous anti-Christian riot cases – local BJP legislator Pradhan of the G. Udayagiri assembly constituency – on July 6 dampened the spirits of the Christians. Bail was granted for 15 days so that Pradhan could take oath as a member of the new assembly, reported Indo-Asian News Service. Pradhan was arrested in October 2008 on various charges including murder, rioting and arson.
The spate of violence that erupted in Kandhamal in August-September 2008 killed more than 100 people and resulted in the incineration of 4,640 houses, 252 churches and 13 educational institutions. The violence began following the assassination of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu council or VHP) leader, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, by a Maoist (extreme Marxist) group. Hindu nationalist groups blamed Christians for the assassination.
Although more than 100 people were killed in the attacks, only 26 murder cases have been registered under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. According to CLA statistics, 13 cases were registered in the Raikia police station alone. Five complaints were filed in Tikabali, two each in G. Udayagiri, Sarangada, and Balliguda, and one each in Gocchapada and Phiringia.
At least nine cases were registered for attempted murder: four in Balliguda, two in G. Udayagiri, and one each in Tumudibandha, Phulbani, and Sarangada. Two rape cases were registered, one each in the Phulbani and Balliguda.
Over 550 cases have been filed for arson and looting: 323 in G. Udayagiri alone, 59 in Tikabali, 32 in Raikia, 31 in Gocchapada, 26 in Phulbani, 23 each in Phiringia and Balliguda, 18 in Daringbadi, 10 in Sarangada, four each in Tumudibandha and Kotagarh, and three in Khajuripada.
Around 680 people were arrested in the numerous cases, but some have managed to get bail from courts, according to The Deccan Herald newspaper.
The CLA and a non-profit group, the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), are providing free legal services to the victims and their relatives in Kandhamal. In neighboring Gajapati district, which also faced numerous anti-Christian attacks in August-September 2008 as fallout of Saraswati's murder, the All India Christian Council (AICC), in partnership with the HRLN, is providing free legal aid to victims of the violence.
"At least 337 families lost homes or businesses [in Gajapati district]," Dr. Sam Paul, AICC spokesman, told Compass. "[However,] most rehabilitation as well as public attention has focused on Kandhamal district."
Commenting on the need for legal help in Gajapati, Paul added, "On one single day [in June], the lawyers counselled and drafted petitions for 30 persons."
The AICC and HRLN are also helping the victims in Gajapati to receive compensation and recover lost identity cards and other documents.
Silence of Inquiry Panel
At the same time, a judicial commission headed by Justice S.C. Mohapatra to probe the August-September 2008 violence submitted a 28-page interim report to the state government on July 1 without blaming any group or organization for the violence.
"Sources of the violence were deeply rooted in land disputes, conversion and re-conversion and fake certificate issues … Suspicion among the scheduled tribe and scheduled caste inhabitants of Kandhamal is the main cause of riots, with the tribals suspecting that Pana Dalits were capturing their land through fraudulent means," Mohapatra said, according to The Hindu.
Those belonging to the Kui tribe in Kandhamal are mostly Hindu. Christians make up an estimated 16 percent of the 650,000 people in the district, with more than 60 percent of them belonging to the Pana community and classified as "Scheduled Castes," better known as Dalits (formerly "untouchables").
The Pana community has been demanding recognition as a tribal community, as Dalits lose their right to government's affirmative action after they convert to Christianity. The Kui people, however, oppose the demand, as it would increase the number of candidates eligible for government-reserved jobs. Sections of the Kui people believe that Pana Dalits make fake certificates to get the land that can belong only to tribal people.
"I know it will take at least two years to complete inquiry, but the interim report will help the government to make immediate intervention," added Mohapatra.
Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Catholic Archdiocese told private channel Zee News, "Justice Mohapatra had given remarks on other matters without touching the subject for which the commission was set up, to investigate culpability in the series of attacks on Christians." Cheenath said that conversion was "not at all" a factor behind the Kandhamal violence.
The National Commission for Minorities in October 2008 had accused the then-ruling state government, a coalition of a regional party, the Biju Janata Dal (NJD) and the BJP, of not controlling the violence. It said that despite knowing that public reaction to the murder of a prominent religious leader like Laxmanananda would be extreme, there was little evidence of action by political and administrative higher-ups in Bhubaneswar, reported The Indian Express daily on Oct. 30, 2008.
In March 2009, the BJD broke its 11-year-old alliance with the BJP, saying it did not want to partner with a "communal" party. The BJD fought and won the April-May state assembly election alone. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held the BJP and groups linked with it, such as the Hindu extremist VHP and its youth wing Bajrang Dal, responsible for the violence, according to private news channel CNN-IBN.
Posted in Christianity, Hinduism, India, Roman Catholicism	| Tagged 2008, accused, action, administrative, affirmative, AICC, aid, All India Christian Council, alliance, alone, anti-Christian, Archbishop, area, armed, arrested, arson, assassination, assembly, attacks, attention, bail, Bajrang Dal, Balliguda, Batia Digal, believe, Bharatiya Janata Party, Bhubaneswar, Biju Janata Dal, Bikram Pradhan, BJP, blamed, blames, broke, brother, burned, businesses, candidates, capturing, carrying, case, cases, caste, cause, cell, certifcate, Chakradhar Mallick, channel, charges, Chenchedi Gram Panchayat, Chief Minister, Christian, Christian Legal Association, Christianity, Christians, churches, CLA, classified, CNN-IBN, Coalition, commenting, commission, communal, community, compensation, complainant, constituency, continues, controlling, conversions, convicted, conviction, coordinator, counselled, court, culpability, culprits, Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Catholic Archdiocese, daily, dampened, Daringbadi, death, deeply, demand, demanding, Dibya Paricha, disputes, district, District Collector, documents, Dodaingia, Dr, drafted, eastern, educational, election, eligible, erupted, evidence, extreme, extremists, faced, factor, fake, fallout, families, fast-track, filed, fine, first, focused, following, former, formerly, fought, free, G. Udayagiri, Gajapati, Gobida Chandra Pradhan, Gondaguda, government, granting, group, groups, gunmen, head, headed, help, helping, Hindu, Hinduism, Hindus, homes, hope, house, HRLN, Human Rights Law Network, identity cards, immediate, incineration, including, India, Indian Penal Code, Indo-Asian News Service, information, inhabitants, inquiry, institutions, interim, intervention, investigating, issue, issues, issuing, jobs, judicial, jurisdiction, justice, Kandhamal, Kasinpadar, Khajuripada, kill, killed, know, Kotagarh, Kui, land, leader, legal, legislator, linked, little, lives, living, local, Loknath Digal, looting, lost, main, managed, Manoj Pradhan, Maoist, Marxist, matters, means, member, motor, murder, National Commission for Minorities, nationalist, Naveen Patnaik, need, neighboring, new, New Delhi, newspaper, NJD, non-profit, oath, officer, organization, Orissa, Pana Dalits, panel, partner, partnership, party, people, Persecution, personally, persons, petitions, Phiringia, Phulbani, Piserama, pistols, police, police stations, political, Pratap Pradhan, pressure, prime, prison, private, probe, prominent, provided, providing, public, punished, Raikia, rape, Raphael Cheenath, ray, reaction, receive, recently, recognition, reconversions, recover, refused, regional, registered, rehabilitation, reign, relatives, reliable, religious, remarks, report, reported, reports, responsible, resulted, Rev, riding, right, riot, rioters, rioting, Roman Catholic, Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholics, rooted, ruling, S. C. Mohapatra, Salapsahi, Sam Paul, Sanjeeb Pradhan, Sarangad, Sarangarh, save, scetion 302, scheduled, Scheduled Castes, sections, sentenced, series, services, shook, Shricharnan Mohan Pradhan, shrinking, silence, source, spate, spirits, spokesman, state, statistics, sub-collector, sub-district, sub-divional, subject, submitted, survivors, suspecting, suspects, suspicion, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, terror, testify, The Deccan Herald, The Hindu, The Indian Express, threatened, threatening, threats, Tikabali, touching, trials, tribal, tribe, truth, Tumudibandha, underway, unprecedented, untouchables, various, vehicle, VHP, victim, victims, village, violence, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, wave, wing, withdraw, witness, witnesses, won, World Hindu Council, younger, youth, Zee News | Leave a comment
A REPORT ON THE HINDU – CHRISTIAN VIOLENCE IN ORISSA
Posted on October 24, 2008 by particularkev
Orissa continue to simmer. Local missionary report.
Pastor Pratap Digal comes from a very poor family. He is serving God's ministry in Indian Pentecostal Assemblies (IPA) for the past one year at Balaskumpa village in Kandhamal District in the state of Orissa. Pastor Pratap Digal is also conducting daughter churches in three villages namely Khajuripada, Linppada and Bicipada with strength of 110 believers. He conducts the Sunday Services in a rental building. Digal is a common surname among Christians in the district.
This anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal which began on Christmas Eve in 2007 has claimed more than 1000 lives, and thousands of others sustained injuries. Hindu radicals also burned more than 2000 houses, and Christian churches and institutions were attacked and destroyed.
The Hindu fanatics continue to threaten Christians in interior villages. The radicals want Christians to convert to Hinduism or leave the area, and they threaten to kill those who do not comply.
Before 20 days, a similar incident also happened with Pastor Pratap Digal when about 50 Hindu radicals thronged at his home and asked about him. His parents told that he had gone outside. Then they threatened his family to change their religion or face consequences. They also told them that they will come at 10 AM next day to talk to Pastor Pratap Digal and they threatened to set the house on fire if he is not present.
The same night, the whole family left the house and went in a forest and took shelter for a week. They struggled a lot without water and food and then moved to the main town in Kandhamal. They arranged a rental house there. Though the house has no electricity connection, they are still living there because of no alternative. They are still fearful because "anything can happen at any time." Pastor Pratap Digal has come to Coimbatore and he is praying fervently for the safety of all the Christians in Orissa.
Over the past decade in Orissa, Christian houses and churches have been set on fire, tribal Christians have been harassed and boycotted, and pastors and others have been killed.
In 1999, Hindu radicals burned alive Australian Protestant missioner Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons. The killing of a Catholic priest, Father Arul Doss of Balasore diocese, occurred the same year.
Posted in Australia, Christianity, India, Pentecostalism, Roman Catholicism	| Tagged 1999, 2007, alive, alternative, anti-Christian, area, arranged, Arul Doss, attacked, Australian, Balaskumpa, Balasore, believers, Bicipada, boycotted, building, burned, change, Christian, Christianity, Christians, Christmas Eve, churches, claimed, Coimbatore, common, comply, conducts, connection, consequences, continue, convert, daughter, decade, destroyed, diocese, district, electricity, family, fanatics, Father, fearful, fervently, fire, food, forest, Graham Staines, happened, harassed, Hindu, Hinduism, Hindus, home, houses, incident, India, Indian, Indian Pentecostal Assemblies, injuries, institutions, interior, IPA, Kandhamal, Khajuripada, kill, killed, killing, leave, Linppada, lives, local, main, ministry, missionary, Orissa, parents, Pastor, pastors, Persecution, poor, Pratap Digal, praying, present, priest, Protestant, radicals, religion, rental, report, Roman Catholic, Roman Catholicism, safety, services, serving, shelter, similar, simmer, sons, state, strength, struggled, Sunday, surname, sustained, threaten, threatened, thronged, town, tribal, village, villages, violence, water | Leave a comment
INDIA: ATTACKS, 'RECONVERSIONS' CONTINUE IN ORISSA
Posted on September 11, 2008 by particularkev
At least 20 houses burned and 70 Christian families forced to become Hindus in one day.
NEW DELHI, September 9 (Compass Direct News) – The spate of anti-Christian violence that began following the killing of a Hindu leader on Aug. 23 in Orissa's Kandhamal district continued yesterday despite a stream of meetings by Christian and rights groups with high government officials.
At least 20 houses were burned last night and 70 Christian families were forcibly 'reconverted' to Hinduism yesterday in separate incidents in the eastern state.
According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), more than 20 houses belonging to Christians from the Orissa Follow-Up ministry (OFU) in Khajuripada village in Kandhamal were set on fire last night. The Rev. Dr. D.B. Hrudaya of the OFU told EFI that the whereabouts of the 20 families whose houses were destroyed were unknown and that he was "deeply concerned."
Earlier in the day, around 70 families in four villages – Bogapada, Boriguda, Kuttiguda and Danniguda – in Kandhamal were forcibly 'reconverted' to Hinduism by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP) extremists.
On Sunday (September 7), a mob of around 2,000 people attacked a church during the morning worship service in Bhudainjal village in another district, Kalahandi, reported EFI. While the church members were able to flee, the attackers caught hold of two church workers and assaulted them.
"When the three-months pregnant wife of one of the men tried to rescue her husband, one person in the mob kicked her in the stomach," EFI reported. "She was admitted to the Kathiguda Government Hospital."
In the afternoon, the mob burned a daycare center in nearby Bamnichatra village. The crowd also stole items worth around 10,000 rupees (US$225) from the center before setting it on fire.
There were also reports of Hindu extremists poisoning the water at relief camps in Kandhamal.
"An attempt to poison the drinking water source of the relief camp in Habaq High School in G. Udayagiri village, Kandhamal was foiled by an alert security guard at 9 p.m. on September 2," EFI said in a statement.
The water of another relief camp in Vijay High School in Raikia, Kandhamal was reportedly poisoned last Wednesday (September 3). Six Christians fell ill from the toxicity and were taken to hospitals, according to EFI.
The violence in Orissa began following the killing of a VHP leader, Laxmanananda Saraswati, and four of his disciples on August 23 in his ashram (religious center) in the Jalespeta area of Kandhamal district. A Maoist group claimed responsibility for the killings, but the VHP continues to blame Christians.
The Global Council of India Christians has recorded at least 56 deaths thus far, and the rights group believes the toll could cross 100. Hundreds of houses and churches have also been burned or destroyed in the violence, forcing thousands to hide in jungles or take shelter in relief camps set up by the state government.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of India said in a statement yesterday (September 8) that relief camps needed more facilities and protection for the people who were "still in the grip of fear and loss."
"In some villages people continue to live under threat," the conference said in a statement. "They think they could be attacked any time."
Representatives of the Christian community in India have met with the president, the federal interior minister, the leader of the ruling United Progressive Alliance Sonia Gandhi, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, and several other political leaders to urge them to ensure protection of Christians in Orissa.
At the same time, the VHP defied a government ban to organize a gathering at Saraswati's ashram in Jalespeta to pay homage to its slain leader over the weekend, reported The Telegraph newspaper.
The VHP was planning to take the ashes of Saraswati in public procession from village to village in the whole of Orissa on Sunday (September 7), but the state government banned it after the Supreme Court on Friday (September 5) ordered it to take all measures to protect the lives and property of Christians.
Yesterday the state government banned all rallies and processions in connection with Saraswati's killing, as it has to inform the Supreme Court about the security measures taken to end the violence on Thursday (September 11), reported the Press Trust of India agency.
Saraswati allegedly incited the attacks on Christians and their property in Kandhamal last Christmas season. The violence lasted for more than a week beginning December 24, and killed at least four Christians and burned 730 houses and 95 churches.
The 2007 attacks were allegedly carried out by VHP extremists under the pretext of avenging an attack on Saraswati allegedly by local Christians. Hundreds of Christians were displaced by the violence in Kandhamal, and many are still in various relief camps set up by the state government.
Orissa is ruled by a coalition of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and the Biju Janata Dal party.
Christians make up 2.4 percent of Orissa's population, or 897,861 of the total 36.7 million people.
Posted in Christianity, India	| Tagged alert, anti-Christian, Ashes, ashram, attacks, Bamnichatra, banned, Bharatiya Janata Party, Bhudainjal, Biju Janata Dal, blame, Bogapada, Boriguda, burned, Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, Chief Minister, Christian, Christianity, Christians, Christmas, church, churches, Coalition, community, court, crowd, Danniguda, daycare center, death toll, deaths, disciples, district, Dr. D. B. Hrudaya, EFI, Evangelical Fellowship of India, extremists, families, fear, fire, flee, forced, G. Udayagira, Global Council of Indian Christians, government, Habaq High School, Hindu, Hinduism, homage, hospitals, houses, ill, incited, India, interior minister, Jalespeta, jungles, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Kathiguda Government Hospital, Khajuripada, kicked, killing, Kuttiguda, Laxmanananda Saraswati, leader, lives, loss, Maoist, Maoists, measures, meetings, members, ministry, mob, nationalist, Naveen Patnaik, New Delhi, newspaper, OFU, Orissa, Orissa Follow-Up, Persecution, poison, poisoned, pregnant, President, Press Trust of India, procession, property, protection, public, Raikia, rallies, reconversions, reconverted, relief camps, religious center, reports, representatives, Roman Catholic, rupees, security, security guard, shelter, slain, Sonia Gandhi, state, stole, stomach, supreme, The Telegraph, threat, toxicity, United Progressive Alliance, VHP, Vijay High School, village, violence, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, water, wife, World Hindu Council, Worship service | Leave a comment