Religious lawyers step in to help riot victims

NEW DELHI (UCAN) — A group of Religious lawyers today finalized plans to help to improve conviction rates in anti-Christian riot cases in the eastern state of Orissa.

Representatives of the Forum of Religious Lawyers for Kandhamal (FRLK) will help victims appeal to the Supreme Court to reopen 11 murders cases handled by two fast track courts in Orissa, said forum head Monfort Brother Varghese Theckanath.

Flawed investigation and a lack of expert legal help were to blame for the high rate of acquittals, Brother Theckanath said.

The Religious lawyers formed the forum after they came together Feb. 25-28 in Hyderabad, capital of southern Andhra Pradesh state.

The 54 members, all priests, brothers or nuns, have agreed to spend time in Kandhamal, the epicenter of violence, to provide legal help to victims, Brother Theckanath said.

Five representavies of the forum concluded a two-day meeting with Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar to finalize plans today.

The meeting was initiated by Montfort Social Institute in that city and Pune-based Streevani, a Church-run center for women’s empowerment.

The seven weeks of rioting and violence against Christians in 2008 resulted in 3,232 complaints by victims.

Police have filed 831 cases for investigation. The investigations of some 120 cases have been completed and sent for trial.

By February end the courts have closed some 60 cases, convicting a total of 89 persons and acquitting 251 people, the Religious lawyers said in a statement.

They plan to work with other groups to appeal to the Supreme Court to “stay all criminal proceedings” of riot cases and to re-open and re-investigate all cases.

“We propose appointing a leading criminal lawyer each” in the district, state and Supreme courts,” the brother said.

They also want to approach the National Human Rights Commission and National Women’s Commission to ensure justice for victims, he added.

Some 90 people were killed and 50,000 displaced in the riots. The state government, however, says only 42 were killed and lists the rest as “missing” because their bodies have not yet been found.

IE09069.1592 March 10, 2010 34 EM-lines (331 words)

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