Church welcomes first conviction in Orissa violence

Published Date: July 2, 2009

A Church leader in Orissa state has hailed the first conviction linked to anti-Christian riots there last year, saying it will enhance Christians´ confidence in the justice system.

The conviction will help “people to have more confidence in the justice system and government,” said Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, who heads the Catholic Church in the eastern Indian state. “We are happy that at least one person has received justice.”

A court in Phulbani, in Kandhamal district, convicted Chakradhar Mallick on June 30. The court said he was guilty of setting fire to the house of Lokanath Digal, a Christian in Dampidia village in Kandhamal district.

He was sentenced to four years in prison and fined 2,000 rupees (US$40).

Mallick, a local landlord, was accused of leading and instigating a Hindu group to burn homes and attack Christians.

The tribal-dominated district was the center of a four-month long campaign of Hindu-extremist violence that killed about 90 people and displaced about 50,000, mostly Christians, according to Church leaders.

The violence began on Aug. 24, a day after Maoists gunned down a Hindu religious leader in the district. Hindu radicals blamed Christians for the murder and destroyed houses, churches, convents and killed people who refused to convert to Hinduism.

The judge found Mallick guilty of inciting a mob to set fire to Digal´s home. He is also accused of engineering several similar attacks.

Archbishop Cheenath said the Church believes other “ringleaders” behind the violence will be arrested, investigated and punished. “It is a good development from the judiciary,” said the Divine Word prelate, adding that a first conviction would encourage witnesses to come forward.

“Anyway, victims will not live with compassion but with justice,” he added.

Digal´s lawyer R. Pradhan told UCA News that “it was risky for the witnesses” to testify in court against Mallick, because they were threatened. But his team managed to help “them to say the truth and the victim to get justice.”

An archdiocesan legal team along with Human Rights Law Network and the Christian Legal Association are working together to help riot victims fight their court cases, a Church official said.

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