“[Government] officials have played a variety of negative roles during the
violence, ranging from being silent spectators and bystanders to the
violence [to] refusing to protect or assist the victim-survivors even in the
context of brutal killings,” wrote the jury of the National People’s
Tribunal on Kandhamal.
The tribunal’s final report was released Dec. 3 at Orissa’s capital,
Bhubaneswar, in the presence of more than 1,000 people, including social
activists, Christian clergy and hundreds of victims of the violence in
Kandhamal, about 180 miles from Bhubaneswar.
The jury also charged the Orissa police with “complicity” in the violence
that engulfed the remote jungle region of Kandhamal in August 2008 following the killing of Hindu leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati.
Though Maoist rebels claimed responsibility for Saraswati’s murder, Hindu
fundamentalist groups alleged that the murder was a Christian conspiracy. In
the widespread violence that went on unabated for weeks, more than 100
Christians were killed and 300 churches and 6,000 houses were looted and
burned, rendering over 56,000 people homeless.
The 200-page document, titled “Waiting for Justice,” also expressed “deep
concern that the criminal justice system has been rendered ineffective in
protecting victim survivors and witnesses, providing justice and ensuring
accountability for the crimes perpetrated.”
“The government officials and police are duty-bound to protect the people
when in danger. But in Kandhamal, they sided with the perpetrators,” said
Vrinda Grover, a lawyer in the federal supreme court and one of the dozen
jury members.
“If the government had taken necessary precaution, most of the violence
could have been prevented,” pointed out retired high court judge Michael F.
Saldana, a Catholic.
The jury made a series of recommendations, including impartial retrial of
closed cases, meaningful compensation for losses and rehabilitation programs and urgent steps to uphold freedom of religion in Orissa.
Addressing the challenges that lay ahead, Ram Puniyani, a Hindu and convenor of the tribunal, told a seminar on the tribunal verdict that “the report is ready. But don’t think our work is over. It only begins now.”
“I do not know when I will get justice,” Komal Digal, who lost property
worth 1.5 million rupees (U.S. $29,000) but received compensation of 20,000 rupees (US$390), told ENInews.
