against an Orissa High Court which cancelled the death sentence of a Hindu militant and acquitted 11 others in the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, six years ago. The Global Council of India Christian (GCIC) also demanded Friday, June 24, a retrial as key witnesses allegedly were feeling threatened by Hindu radicals in Orissa, India’s tense, Hindu dominated, eastern state.
Last month the High Court ordered life imprisonment for militant Dara Singh, who had pleaded innocent and appealed against a lower court’s decision on September 15, 2003, to hang him and sentence 12 other men to life in jail.
High Court Judges Sujit Burmon Roy and Laxmikant Mohapatra acquitted 11 of the other people sentenced to a life term for burning alive Staines and his children in a remote village in Orissa. The judges retained the life sentence on another man convicted of involvement in the killings on January 22, 1999.
VERDICT "SHOCK"
"I was shocked at the court verdict and want the CBI to appeal again in the apex court,". GCIC National Convener Sajan K George told reporters in Bhubaneswar. "The Wadha Commission, which investigate the case, reports that Dara Singh was directly involved in the murder case. Contrary to the commission’s findings, the High court of Orissa gave its verdict on May 21, 2005," he said.
"After the demise of punishment, [Hindu militant groups] Vishwa Hidu Parishad and Bajarang Dal have threatened Christians. Christians in Orissa have been frightened by the clemency shown to the culprits involved in the Australian Missionary Murder case," George added.
The judges gave no reason for commuting the death sentence on Singh and the acquittal of the others, news reports said. GCIC also condemned recent incidents of "Hindu fundamentalists" threatening retired Judges who were conducting a people’s tribunal on Communalism and Human trafficking issue in the state.
OTHER ATTACKS
In addition there has been concern about attacks against Christians elsewhere in India. This week "a gang of armed robbers" looted monastery of nuns in the state of Bihar in the early hours of June 21, news reports said.
The robbery of Chetanalaya, a convent and social service centre run by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth at Rajgir, was the second major attack against nuns within as many weeks. The robbers took some 18,000 rupees (about 414 US dollars) and valuables, including a mobile phone, VCD player, CDs "and even an emergency lamp," said Sister Rose Plathottam, who was in the convent when the robbers struck.
They allegedly forced Sister Plathottam to the ground floor, while threatening children, including handicapped girls who slept near her at the terrace of the building. Other men kept reportedly ransacking the building, where the nuns also run a dispensary and primary non-formal school for 120 children.
MORE INCIDENTS
Earlier a convent and health centre run by Sisters of Notre Dame in Raxaul, in Champaran district, was attacked on June 13. In another incident, the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth convent at Sokho in Bhagalpur diocese was attacked in the first week of this month. There were also reports of attacks and desecration from Madhya Pradesh.
The increasing attacks on Christians had forced the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India to urge the federal and state governments to check the violence and prosecute the perpetrators. CBCI Secretary General Percival Fernandez, Auxiliary Bishop of Bombay, has said that is an increase of violence against Church personnel carrying out missionary and charity works in India. (Satya Sundar Mishra is BosNewsLife India Reporter based in Orissa. Mishra, 26, is a Development Journalist of Orissa working on social and religious issues that are not yet on the radar screen of media and politicians. He has been working for a variety of key publications. The reporter can be reached via e-mail satya_mishra11@rediffmail.com ).
