Bhubaneswar, Dec 25 (IANS) Curfew was imposed in four towns after a youth was killed and six churches and a minister's houses were targeted on Tuesday in largescale communal violence and arson in Orissa's Kandhamal district following an attack on a VHP leader who led an anti-conversion movement.
A youth was killed in mob violence at Barakhamba, a senior police officer said, adding he was yet to be identified. At least six churches, mostly built in thatched houses, were either ransacked or the vacant premises set on fire since on Monday night as tension built up in the area, Revenue Divisional Commissioner Satyabrata Sahu told PTI. Two police outposts and a police vehicle were set on fire, he said.
"Following largescale violence, we have imposed curfew in district headquarters town of Phulbani, Baliguda, Daringibadi and Brahmanigaon to prevent further flare up," Sahu said.
Unconfirmed reports said 12 churches were targetted by vandals since Monday night and additional forces deployed in sensitive pockets of the district where of the total 6.50 lakh population, more than one lakh belonged to Christian community.
The violence, which began at Brahmanigaon village under Daringbadi area on Monday , gradually spread to other parts of the district with miscreants attacking two houses of the state's Steel and Mines minister Padmanabha Behera at Phiringia and Nuapadar villages, 10 km from Orissa.
While three churches were set on fire at Baliguda on Monday night, three others were burnt on Tueaday at different villages under Nuagaon block, official sources said.
Churches at Chakapada, Giringia and Phiringia were also ransacked before being set afire, the sources said. A police station and a police outpost area were set on fire and the official jeep of circle inspectors of Phulbani and Tikabali torched by mobs which attacked offices of some organisations including an orphanage run by Christian missionaries in different parts of the district.
Policemen who went to Daringbadi, Phiringia and Chakapada blocks were not allowed access by the mob which took to streets after 80-year-old VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was allegedly attacked on Monday.
"The situation is tense but we are trying to get control," Director General of Police Gopal Nanda told PTI adding additional armed forces were being sent to the violence-prone areas of the tribal-dominated district.
The DGP said Inspector General of Police (Special Armed Police) Pradip Kapoor was camping at the district headquarters though police movement was restricted due to felling of trees on the road.
Meanwhile, several trains were delayed and vehicular movement hit as bandh supporters blocked railway tracks and highways in Cuttack, Balasore, Bhubaneswar and Bhadrak during the four-hour shutdown.
Activists of VHP and Bajrang Dal blocked traffic in many areas and moved in groups to enforce a four-hour bandh called in protest against the attack on Saraswati.
As many as 13 persons were taken into custody in connection with the alleged attack, Inspector General of Police (special armed police) Pradeep Kapur said.
Expressing concern over the violence on Christmas day, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik appealed to the people to maintain peace and communal harmony. While 14 persons, including Laxmanananda Saraswati, were injured on Monday, over 10 others sustained injuries in incidents of violence since this morning as saffron activists targeted Churches, a missionary-run orphanage and an international NGO.
Thousands of people were denied entry into Churches in different parts of the tribal dominated district to offer special prayers and services on the occasion of Christmas as saffron activists held picketing during the bandh called by them in protest against attack on Saraswati.
The VHP-sponsored bandh coincided with a two-day shut-down called by "Kui samaj sammanwaya samiti", a tribal outfit demanding Scheduled Tribe status to Dalit Christians.
PTI
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Fundamentalists Beat up Five Nuns in Madhya Pradesh
Mumbai (AsiaNews), Oct 28: The accusation of forced conversions to Christianity has once again been used as a pretext to justify Hindu fundamentalist violence against members of the Catholic community. Yesterday 5 sisters of the Poor Clare’s order were savagely beaten with sticks by a group of activists from Dharma Raksha Samiti (Committee for the protection of religion), a fundamentalist organisation in favour of sati (the ritual suicide of the widows). The incident took place yesterday afternoon in Raseli, Indore diocese, Madhya Pradesh. The police have refused the diocese’ attempts to report the incident.
The religious sisters currently hospitalised in grave conditions in Bhandari Hospital, are all very young: Sr. Jincy, 40, Sr. Sayujia, 27, Sr. Pavitra, 26, Sr. Sweta, 26 and Sr. Anna Maria, 27. “We had gone to attend the Rosary Prayer at Mr. Anil‘s house. He is a catholic by birth and the driver of our convent, when they attacked us with sticks”, says Sr. Jincy. Dharma Raksha Samiti convenor Kamal Waghela accused the sisters of converting people in the area to the Christian faith, and said that “after the prayer, picked a quarrel on this issue which lead to clash between the sisters and our workers”.
The spokesman for the Indore diocese immediately responded to these accusations: “It is nothing but finding an easy way to justify the brutality done to women religious, we will fight with tooth and nail”. Archbishop Leo Cornelio, Chairman, Catholic Bishops Council of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh too used strong words to condemn the episode: “We have been suffering silently but it looks that the fundamental organizations take it as a weakness from our part, it is n attack on women and human freedom.”
On learning of the event the diocese launched a hunger strike in protest. Local police has refused to launch an investigation into the episode until the Catholic authorities agree to end the strike set for October 28th. In fact today in Indore a meeting of Madhya Pradesh Industries is due to take place and the Catholic’s protest against police inaction and government disinterest could seriously harm the image of the event. Msgr Cornelio confides his worries to AsiaNews: “What is alarming is that these fanatical outfits are so powerful politically, that the authorities cannot take care of Law and Order and fail in their duty to protect the citizens and hence these fanatics get encouraged to intensity their hate propaganda and anti-minority sentiments to carry out act of violence towards the monitory and get away scot free. India is a democratic country and this cannot be tolerated, our religious freedom is non-negotiable.”
Fr Anand Muttungal, Regional Public Relations Officer & Spokesperson, said, “We welcome the support extended by left parties, secular organizations, various inter-religious forums and NGOs.” He warned,” the fundamental organizations are preparing the ground for the assembly election to be held in 2008”.
The religious sisters currently hospitalised in grave conditions in Bhandari Hospital, are all very young: Sr. Jincy, 40, Sr. Sayujia, 27, Sr. Pavitra, 26, Sr. Sweta, 26 and Sr. Anna Maria, 27. “We had gone to attend the Rosary Prayer at Mr. Anil‘s house. He is a catholic by birth and the driver of our convent, when they attacked us with sticks”, says Sr. Jincy. Dharma Raksha Samiti convenor Kamal Waghela accused the sisters of converting people in the area to the Christian faith, and said that “after the prayer, picked a quarrel on this issue which lead to clash between the sisters and our workers”.
The spokesman for the Indore diocese immediately responded to these accusations: “It is nothing but finding an easy way to justify the brutality done to women religious, we will fight with tooth and nail”. Archbishop Leo Cornelio, Chairman, Catholic Bishops Council of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh too used strong words to condemn the episode: “We have been suffering silently but it looks that the fundamental organizations take it as a weakness from our part, it is n attack on women and human freedom.”
On learning of the event the diocese launched a hunger strike in protest. Local police has refused to launch an investigation into the episode until the Catholic authorities agree to end the strike set for October 28th. In fact today in Indore a meeting of Madhya Pradesh Industries is due to take place and the Catholic’s protest against police inaction and government disinterest could seriously harm the image of the event. Msgr Cornelio confides his worries to AsiaNews: “What is alarming is that these fanatical outfits are so powerful politically, that the authorities cannot take care of Law and Order and fail in their duty to protect the citizens and hence these fanatics get encouraged to intensity their hate propaganda and anti-minority sentiments to carry out act of violence towards the monitory and get away scot free. India is a democratic country and this cannot be tolerated, our religious freedom is non-negotiable.”
Fr Anand Muttungal, Regional Public Relations Officer & Spokesperson, said, “We welcome the support extended by left parties, secular organizations, various inter-religious forums and NGOs.” He warned,” the fundamental organizations are preparing the ground for the assembly election to be held in 2008”.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Atrocities Against Christians Highest In Karnataka: Report
By SAR NEWS
BANGALORE, Oct 23 -- Karnataka State in southern India has the worst record of atrocities against Christians recorded in the last 20 months, according to Global Council of Indian Christians, a human rights organisation based in Bangalore.
Karnataka, which witnessed 87 cases of attacks on Christians in 20 months, is only followed by Madhya Pradesh with 30 cases.The council submitted a memorandum to the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), seeking an independent inquiry into the incidents. It also linked the rise in atrocities in Karnataka to the rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party coming to power in the State.
"After the BJP came into the coalition, there has been a climate of impunity for any act of violence committed in the name of Hindutva," the memorandum stated.
Many of these attacks, GCIC claimed, "occurred inside homes where people come together for prayers, and in the churches".GCIC has alleged that the police, in many cases, had refused to either file first information reports or pursue the matter with seriousness. In many instances, cases had been booked against the victims themselves. This had led to most cases remaining "invisible", the Council claimed.
GCCI has sought an investigation into the incidents by a specially empowered group in a speedy and time-bound manner.SHRC chairperson S.R. Naik has sent copies of the memorandum to the chief secretary, Government of Karnataka, and directed him to submit his response within three weeks, after discussions with key officials of the State in charge of law and order.GCIC president Sajan K. George said the organisation had recorded 464 cases of atrocities against Christians throughout India over 20 months and submitted a memorandum to the National Human Rights Council as well.
BANGALORE, Oct 23 -- Karnataka State in southern India has the worst record of atrocities against Christians recorded in the last 20 months, according to Global Council of Indian Christians, a human rights organisation based in Bangalore.
Karnataka, which witnessed 87 cases of attacks on Christians in 20 months, is only followed by Madhya Pradesh with 30 cases.The council submitted a memorandum to the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), seeking an independent inquiry into the incidents. It also linked the rise in atrocities in Karnataka to the rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party coming to power in the State.
"After the BJP came into the coalition, there has been a climate of impunity for any act of violence committed in the name of Hindutva," the memorandum stated.
Many of these attacks, GCIC claimed, "occurred inside homes where people come together for prayers, and in the churches".GCIC has alleged that the police, in many cases, had refused to either file first information reports or pursue the matter with seriousness. In many instances, cases had been booked against the victims themselves. This had led to most cases remaining "invisible", the Council claimed.
GCCI has sought an investigation into the incidents by a specially empowered group in a speedy and time-bound manner.SHRC chairperson S.R. Naik has sent copies of the memorandum to the chief secretary, Government of Karnataka, and directed him to submit his response within three weeks, after discussions with key officials of the State in charge of law and order.GCIC president Sajan K. George said the organisation had recorded 464 cases of atrocities against Christians throughout India over 20 months and submitted a memorandum to the National Human Rights Council as well.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Mystery over 'missing' Haryana Christian priest
Chandigarh, July 24 (IANS) Haryana's top police official will form a special committee to look into what the family of a missing Christian priest suspects to be a case of "custodial death".
Priest Jung Bahadur Singh from the Gohana area of Sonepat district went missing after a team of Haryana police took him to Mumbai in August 2005 to investigate a case in which he was the accused.
Jung Bahadur Singh, who hails from Dalit hamlet Nai Basti on Thanpur Road in Gohana, was accused of kidnapping his own younger brother Manish Kumar and his uncle's daughter Manisha Ridlal in March 2004.
However, the priest's family maintains that the underage boy and girl eloped, and that he was falsely accused by his aunt Anita Ridlal and other villagers who disliked him due to his conversion to Christianity.
The family also suspects that the police might have killed Jung Bahadur Singh in Mumbai when he was in their "unofficial custody".
"A team of Haryana police took Singh to Mumbai to locate the missing boy and girl two years ago. When they could not find the pair, they returned but without Singh, who has been missing since then," the vice president of the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission, Abraham Mathai, told IANS.
Mathai added that the onus of bringing back the priest was on the police.
Mathai and the priest's family met Haryana Director General of Police (DGP) R.S. Dalal here Friday to request an inquiry into the case.
Dalal told IANS that a special committee, headed by Additional General Director of Police John V. George, would be formed to locate the missing priest as well as the boy and the girl.
"My husband has been facing opposition from his own family members and other villagers after he converted to Christianity from a Dalit family a few years ago. They spread rumours that he was hypnotizing people and kidnapping girls to make them Christians. This led to the false accusation against him after his brother eloped with the girl," alleged the priest's wife Mona Singh.
The priest's wife also filed a petition against the police in the Chandigarh High Court in November 2005 but the police refused to admit to the court that their team had gone to Mumbai with Jung Bahadur Singh. The case remains pending.
"I can name and identify the policemen who came to our house and took my husband Aug 16, 2005. Besides, he called me from Mumbai and told me that he was staying in a hotel with the police and that was the last time I spoke to him," she said.
Mathai said that according to the records of Hotel Yatri in Santa Cruz, Mumbai, the Haryana policemen checked in with Jung Bahadur Singh and spent a few days there.
However, Superintendent of Police Navdeep Singh indicated that Jung Bahadur Singh was not missing but absconding.
"Singh disappeared a few days before his bail was to be cancelled," Navdeep Singh told IANS.
Source ::>>
Priest Jung Bahadur Singh from the Gohana area of Sonepat district went missing after a team of Haryana police took him to Mumbai in August 2005 to investigate a case in which he was the accused.
Jung Bahadur Singh, who hails from Dalit hamlet Nai Basti on Thanpur Road in Gohana, was accused of kidnapping his own younger brother Manish Kumar and his uncle's daughter Manisha Ridlal in March 2004.
However, the priest's family maintains that the underage boy and girl eloped, and that he was falsely accused by his aunt Anita Ridlal and other villagers who disliked him due to his conversion to Christianity.
The family also suspects that the police might have killed Jung Bahadur Singh in Mumbai when he was in their "unofficial custody".
"A team of Haryana police took Singh to Mumbai to locate the missing boy and girl two years ago. When they could not find the pair, they returned but without Singh, who has been missing since then," the vice president of the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission, Abraham Mathai, told IANS.
Mathai added that the onus of bringing back the priest was on the police.
Mathai and the priest's family met Haryana Director General of Police (DGP) R.S. Dalal here Friday to request an inquiry into the case.
Dalal told IANS that a special committee, headed by Additional General Director of Police John V. George, would be formed to locate the missing priest as well as the boy and the girl.
"My husband has been facing opposition from his own family members and other villagers after he converted to Christianity from a Dalit family a few years ago. They spread rumours that he was hypnotizing people and kidnapping girls to make them Christians. This led to the false accusation against him after his brother eloped with the girl," alleged the priest's wife Mona Singh.
The priest's wife also filed a petition against the police in the Chandigarh High Court in November 2005 but the police refused to admit to the court that their team had gone to Mumbai with Jung Bahadur Singh. The case remains pending.
"I can name and identify the policemen who came to our house and took my husband Aug 16, 2005. Besides, he called me from Mumbai and told me that he was staying in a hotel with the police and that was the last time I spoke to him," she said.
Mathai said that according to the records of Hotel Yatri in Santa Cruz, Mumbai, the Haryana policemen checked in with Jung Bahadur Singh and spent a few days there.
However, Superintendent of Police Navdeep Singh indicated that Jung Bahadur Singh was not missing but absconding.
"Singh disappeared a few days before his bail was to be cancelled," Navdeep Singh told IANS.
Source ::>>
Monday, January 29, 2007
Christian prayer meet attacked, Bihar town tense
Patna, Jan 30 (IANS) Tension gripped a Bihar town after a Christian prayer meet was attacked by suspected Bajrang Dal activists, injuring several people.
According to police, a group of armed men Sunday attacked the meet at a Christian missionary in Sasaram in Rohtas district, 200 km from here. They beat up people present there, tore down posters and burnt books and leaflets. Complaints have been filed against nine Bajrang Dal activists.
The injured were immediately admitted to hospital.
Witness said that about 40 masked men attacked the Christian prayer meet and warned against holding similar weekly meetings, said K.K. Sharma, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Sasaram).
"The attackers shouted slogans against the conversion of Hindus to Christianity," he added.
Bajrang Dal leaders in the district were apparently unhappy over the missionary converting many Dalits. In the last two months, nearly 50 Dalit families have reportedly converted to Christianity.
IANS
According to police, a group of armed men Sunday attacked the meet at a Christian missionary in Sasaram in Rohtas district, 200 km from here. They beat up people present there, tore down posters and burnt books and leaflets. Complaints have been filed against nine Bajrang Dal activists.
The injured were immediately admitted to hospital.
Witness said that about 40 masked men attacked the Christian prayer meet and warned against holding similar weekly meetings, said K.K. Sharma, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Sasaram).
"The attackers shouted slogans against the conversion of Hindus to Christianity," he added.
Bajrang Dal leaders in the district were apparently unhappy over the missionary converting many Dalits. In the last two months, nearly 50 Dalit families have reportedly converted to Christianity.
IANS
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