Legal Intervention Sought In the Midst of Continued Attacks

9/2/08 India (Evangelical Fellowship of India) – The Archbishop of Cuttack on Tuesday approached the Supreme Court seeking a CBI probe into the violence against Christians in Orissa. The Archbishop’s petition has also sought that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) be asked to conduct a probe to find out which organisation was behind the Kandhamal violence.

Senior Advocate Collin Gonsalves, of Human Rights Law Network informed about the filing of the petition to a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan which agreed to hear the matter.

The petitioner claimed that the Rapid Action Force has been deployed only in the cities and it has to be moved to the rural areas which have borne the maximum brunt of the unrest. The petition also sought a compensation of Rs. Four lakh each to those whose property and houses were destroyed in the violence.

Meanwhile our correspondent from Orissa has reported, on September 1, 2008 in Mandasara, Kandhamal a church and 82 houses were torched. Two Christians suffocated and charred to death in the burning church.

Vernacular newspaper, Samvadh, reported fresh incidents from Koraput District where at least three churches and a house were burnt down. A church in Daulagaon was burnt down. Another church in Kodulipadar was charred whereas the third church in Nilabari was torched. A Christian house in Ramgiri was also burnt completely.