Though six thousand federal troops of the Central Reserve Police Force and a Helicopter ensured a peaceful, if very un-Christmassy festival season in the forests and refugee camps of Kandhamal district of the State, shattered by two rounds of anti Christian bloodshed and arson in December 2007 and August-October 2008, ground level peace in forest villages remains a distant dream. A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan had made his remarks while hearing Colin Gonsalves, counsel for Archbishop Raphael Cheenath who had filed a Public Interest Litigation, informed the court that only “deceptive calm” existed in Kandhamal.
In fact, the State government is using its so called official peace committees, heavily loaded against the religious minority, to force withdrawal of criminal cases registered by Christians against those who burnt their houses in the first round of Sangh violence from 24-27 December 2007. As many as 107 churches and close to a thousand Christian homes were burnt at that time, as also some Hindu homes [in the Brahminigaon village]. The spirit behind the anti-Christian violence was Vishwa Hindu Parishad vice president Lakhmanananda Saraswati, whose murder by Maoists on 23 August 2008 sparked off the second round of mayhem.
Reports were then lodged with the police on January 2008. Criminal complaints were filed in the local courts. Of 127 cases registered in the 2007, only five were ever investigated, the National Commission for Minorities discovered. Affidavits were also filed with the Justice Panigrahi Commission of enquiry in which the VHP leader was named as the instigator. [The commission, after a few sittings in which we participated, has since then been formally boycotted by the Church and the Christian community for its blatant partisanship].
Now, in Brahminigaon, for instance, the District authorities are “encouraging" victim Christians to reach an “accord” with the Hindu community with both parties agreeing to withdraw all criminal cases. Initial reports indicate that the authorities have ensured that there will be no one present when the criminal cases come up for hearing after some weeks.
The entire peace initiative has been under a shadow for want of transparency, and for the one-sided approach of the state officials who are totally under the sway of the BJP ministers in the Cabinet.
