India: high court seeks review of Orissa government’s response to persecution
September 01, 2011
Dissatisfied with the Orissa government’s response to the wave of anti-Christian persecution that left 100 dead and 50,000 homeless in 2008, the Indian Supreme Court has called for a report by the National Commission for Human Rights.
“The government has failed miserably in all the rehabilitation activities,” said Orissa’s leading prelate, Archbishop John Barwa, who noted that 230 churches and chapels were damaged during the violence.
“There were at least 6,000 cases of houses burned and destroyed,” according to the Fides news agency, which cited local Church sources. “Out of 3,232 cases of violence reported to the police, 828 have officially been registered. Of these 828 cases, only 327 ended with a court case against 749 people arrested. The lower courts have already acquitted 639 and only 19 trials for murder ended in a conviction. 1,597 militants were well identified and then cleared, and thousands of other attackers have not even been contacted by the police.”
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