Kandhamal Couple’s Shooting Evokes Darkest Memories for India’s Christians
ICC Note: According to reports, a Christian couple was shot and killed last month in India’s Odisha, previously known as Orissa, state. The attack took place in Odisha’s Kandhamal district, which is known as the location of India’s worst incident of Christian persecution in the country’s history. During the 2008 attack, 300 churches were destroyed and approximately 6,000 homes were burnt to the ground, leaving thousands of Christians with nowhere to go.
By Anto Akkara
08/20/2015 India (World Watch Monitor) – Human rights groups claim a Christian couple were shot dead by Indian federal security forces last month, while they were speaking on the phone to their son on a mountain in the eastern state of Odisha – formerly known as Orissa.
The alleged murder of Dhubaleswar (50) and Bhubudi (45) Nayak took place in the Kandhamal district, infamous as the scene of the worst persecution of Christians in India’s history.
Exactly seven years ago, in August 2008, scores of Christians were killed by Hindu mobs demanding they convert or be killed. Three hundred churches and 6,000 Christian homes were looted and burnt down, rendering 56,000 Christians homeless.
Since then, the local Christian community has struggled to receive adequate compensation from the government, which has been a source of much contention. In June 2103, for instance, according to The Hindu, a report recommended that the Odisha State government “take immediate measures to adequately rehabilitate and resettle the victim-survivors of the Kandhamal violence”.
The report further urged the government to “ensure full reparation to those whose livelihoods were affected due to violence and strife”.
Father Ajaya Kumar Singh, director of the Odisha Forum for Social Action told Asia News: “This is a predominantly Christian village. After the violence of 2008, young people migrated to other states in search of work. Often people have to go to the top of the hill to get a signal and call the world. Dhubaleswar and his wife were ordinary Christians, not Maoist militants.”
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