By ICC’s India Correspondent,

8/27/2015 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – Christian victims of the 2008 anti-Christian riots that swept across the Kandhamal district of India’s northeastern state of Odisha, then called Orissa, are still searching for justice even as they observe the 7^th anniversary of the violence. For a majority of the victims, their situations remain unchanged, making survival difficult and the quest for justice nearly impossible.

The 2008 riots remains the worst instance of anti-Christian violence in the history of independent India. The wave of mayhem left thousands devastated as communal violence shook India as a nation and terrified India’s Christian community.

The trigger for the violence, which commenced on August 24, 2008, was the murder of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati. Tensions between Saraswati and the local Christian community were high due to Saraswati’s campaign to convert Christians to Hinduism by force. The violence that followed Christians being accused of Saraswati’s murder claimed over 100 lives, many hacked to death by axes and machetes and several burned alive. When the violence was finally brought under control, nearly 56,000 people, mostly Christians, were displaced as mobs burnt down over 5,600 houses and 300 churches and Christian institutions.

“The victims are [yet] to be fully compensated in terms of financial losses or for the deaths of loved ones,” Dr. John Dayal from the United Christian Forum told International Christian Concern (ICC). “But the real wound that is yet to start healing is that of justice,” Dr. Dayal continued. “The killers roam free, the arsonists continue to flex their muscles, and not all rapists are in jail. Even more than this is the continuing arrogance of the Hindu extremists who strut around with impunity. The hate continues. It is a shame on democratic India that hundreds of families can never return to their villages and many of them have been [living] in separate ghettos. Devoid of their agriculture fields they now work as laborers in distant markets robbed of their dignity.”

Mathew Bardhan, a Christian victims of the 2008 riots told ICC, “We lost everything including our house. We had to relocate ourselves to [a] different place along with 10 other Christian families. Our life [now] is pathetic as we are treated as outsiders by both the government and native people. We are denied basic needs like housing, water, toilets etc. The government doesn’t recognize us as locals thus we are denied of Below the Poverty Line (BPL) ration cards.”

“There has been a huge miscarriage of justice,” Fr. Ajay Singh Kumar, Director of the Odisha Regional Forum, told ICC. “The criminal justice system has failed to do justice to the victims with only two convictions out of 30 murder cases so far. In many cases, the accused have been out on bail for the last seven years. Many have lost faith in the criminal justice system. Only proper investigations and experienced prosecutors and fair judgement could salvage the justice and peace process in Kandhamal.”

The wounds of 2008 anti-Christian riots remain open as the cries for justice of victimized Christian communities go unheard and their need for true rehabilitation remains a distant dream. Will this next year continue to see more of the same injustice and discrimination that has defined these years since 2008 or will India finally do justice for one of its most marginalized and persecuted Christian populations? Only time will tell.