After another visit – from 3rd February to 7th February 2008 -- to Kandhamala in Orissa, scene of the Christmas 2007 anti Christian violence, and a day long stay in the refugee camp at Barakhama, some major issues of culpability, impunity, and human rights remain unanswered.
Dear Friends
When we first came to the Kandhamala hill district of Orissa India on 29th December 2007, we had thought that the worst had been seen of human nature -- when impelled by political brinkmanship, bigotry, and hatred. My colleagues Advocate Nicholas Barla and Social worker Hemant Nayak and I last week discovered how wrong we were. In a second visit to the Kandhamala we again surveyed the aftermath of the carnage, arson, desecration, and assault of human dignity evident in the Christmas week violence by Hindutva gangs in the forests and villages. This time again, we saw almost every single church, house, school, or building which had been targeted by the mobs, as also the refugee camp in the Barakhama township high school. We had expected some decrease in tension in the villages and hamlets. We thought there would be some evidence of probity and transparency in the criminal investigation and justice delivery system, some compassion in the relief and rehabilitation process, some formal questioning of matters of impunity of police and magistracy, some sense of responsibility in instruments of governance. And we had hoped for some contrition in political parties, and some conscience in the politicians and civil society in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa state.
We were disappointed on every single point. It is only a larger faith in the Indian Constitution, Higher Judiciary and the national civil society that prevents utter frustration and dismay,
I narrate here just a small part of the continuing misery and trauma in the Kandhamala district, for information, and partly for the record, as truth too fades from memory, and from the record books, in the face of a constant deluge of falsehood in a large section of the local media, inventing an anthropological and sociological fiction, and attempts at rewriting the past:
Archbishop Raphael Cheenath, who first came to Orissa close to four decades ago as a priest of the Society of the Divine Word, has described is as a diabolic violence, a conspiracy.
In the aftermath, one sees even in the official response hints of a fascist thesis. The men, who masterminded and inspired the violence, and the fountainhead of the hate, roam the forests free of any restraint, without fear even of the Constitution of India.
THE REFUGEE CAMP AT BARAKHAMA: This is the only refugee camp ever organised in India for Christian victims of communal violence. Forty-two days after the attacks, Archbishop Cheenath is at last allowed to visit his people in the affected area despite my repeated pleas to the State administration. His Eminence Cardinal Telesphore Toppo, the President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, was also barred from coming to Kandhamala to see the situation for himself. He could visit only on 29th January, 2008, more than a month after the atrocities. The District Magistrate has ordered that only the State Government can distribute relief through the Red Cross. NGOs and Church institutions, which were in the vanguard of relief operations in the State during past calamities such as the Super Cyclone, are still not allowed to bring any material. The Government is distributing the very basic level of relief. The people feel that it is not enough to meet their current needs. It does not cover many issues health, hygiene, and human dignity.
In my first visit, I had seen several pregnant women, and at least five very sick men. I ask of them. Three of the men have died since I met them. One of them died of unknown illness. Two others died of injuries they had sustained in the attacks by members of the Sangh Parivar trained and motivated by the self styled Swami Lakhmanananda Saraswati, the local head now of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Whey did these men die in the camp, and not in a hospital in Bhubaneswar or the district capital at Phulbani? No one seems to know. Were the bodies examined in a forensic autopsy to find the cause of death? Apparently not. Have been people been charged with the murder of these two men? The police and magistracy are not telling. Under Indian law, cases of criminal assault or attempted murder automatically, so to say, are re-registered as cases of murder, with clauses of criminal conspiracy added on. No one seems to know if the police have done so and are looking for the murderers.
The plight of the pregnant women and of the women in the camp in general, is possibly worse. Because they are living and have to suffer the pangs of being a woman in an absolutely undeveloped situation. The women have no gynecological experts available on hand, it seems. There are not even toilets for them to go to at night. They have to go out into the fields to answer calls of nature. This, some officials say, is exactly what they do in normal times. But times have changed. When they, and their men folk, go out to the forest, they now face hostile mobs who question their coming out of the camp. The taunts can be dangerous. The Union Government’s police force stands guard, but it only for so long that they can keep the peace. Even the Central police officers are worried what would happen once they leave.
There is no effort at even beginning a process of dialogue and reconciliation.
Quite the contrary.
The Government’s rehabilitation attempt is designed to push the Christian refugees into a Ghetto.
Not all refugees have land of their own. They cannot even buy land in the area even if they want to, because the local people’s minds have been poisoned by the Sangh Parivar. The district administration therefore wants many dozens of them to be settled in a Christian conclave with about 400 square feet of land for a two room house each – with a kitchenette, but of course, without a toilet.
The administration however has not been able to find even this plot of land for them, because the villagers do not allow the Tehsildar, the junior revenue magistrate to even measure out the land from the tracts owned by the government. The last time this officer, called a Tehsildar, dared go to measure the land, the link chain measure was snatched and he was chased away. The police are sheepish. They had looked on as the majesty of the law retreated in front of the terror of the Sangh Parivar’s goons. And so the refugees stay in the safety of the camp, under tents, in the cold, without too many blankets. And without toilets.
THE PLIGHT OF STUDENTS: Repeat visits confirm once again what the Prime Minister of India has been told by the church in their representations. How deep the impact of the violence goes can be gauged by the fact that in the refugee camp and elsewhere, the students face annual exams without books and without stationery. Many of them will miss out on the matriculation and secondary examinations; will have to drop an academic year. The older children may miss out on career opportunities. No one in the administrations seems to care. There is no answer to questions if examinations for these unfortunate students will be postponed for a few months, as was done in Gujarat 2002, or in the aftermath of the Tsunami.
THE CASE OF THE MISSING MEN: Several villages are without men, once the sun sets. Such is the terror of the police against the Christians that the men just cannot sleep in their own homes. They remain in the forested hills.
FORCED CONVERSION TO HINDUISM: A dozen times and more, we hear stories of isolated Christian families being made to shave their head. They are being told to convert to Hinduism. These stories are repeated all the way from Phulbani at one end of the Kandhamala district to Brahminigaon at the other end in the east. Archbishop Cheenath, with whom we travelled to some of the areas to seethe interaction of the people with him, agrees that their most urgent need is security, not only for their personal lives but for their existence in Kandhamala district. “The people are terribly frightened as if they are still expecting another onslaught because the perpetrators of these despicable crimes on the occasion of Christmas are freely moving about, brandishing their weapons and shouting slogans and conducting clandestine meetings. Such were the preparations that ultimately led to this diabolic attack. And in some areas, in spite of the presence of the so-called force, looting is still going on from the vandalized locations.The Sangh Parivar organised several ‘jagna’ or prayer assemblies where hate is spewed against Christians.
A more detailed questioning of eye-witnesses, and going through copies of several affidavits and First Information Reports that have been posted to senior officers because the local police do not register the complaints, makes it is clear that the attacks were orchestrated and involved a well trained core cadre which had been given physical training, had been brain washed at secret meetings. Eye witnessed even at the Leprosarium managed by Brothers of the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa confirmed that the attackers had con summed liquor. They had gathered first in small groups in different places, waited for their leaders, and then marched towards their target with loud shuts of their Hindutva slogans. Magistrates present in the leprosarium made off as the mobs collected. The mobs destroyed and burnt everything, and looted all that they could lay their hands on, including live goats, chicken, rabbits and grain and powered milk meant for the patients. Another whistle and they melted away into the forest.
My colleagues and I had published the Non Government White paper earlier in January.
The Christian legal response is slowly taking shape, but not fast enough, and requires senior guidance. Civil society response is still non-existence.
The following questions remain:
Culpability of Central Government
1.1 Intelligence agencies, as also central government agencies working in the area, are culpable for inaction or complicity as the activities of the Sangh Parivar, especially the Bajrang Dal and VHP, RSS were in the open and with aggressive bravado including the final planning and details of the attacks.
1.2 The Honourable Governor has been empowered to ensure peace and good governance of the Scheduled areas under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. Kandhamala district is a scheduled district. When the violence took place, it should have automatically invoked the gubernatorial action. There is no transparency on the nature of communication between the district authorities and the state government with the Governor.
Culpability of State Government, and especially of its agents in the district, the Collector and Superintendent of Police
1.3 Why did the Superintendent of Police and Collector of Kandhamala district permit the `bandh’ or agitation called by the Kui Vikas Samaj on 25th and 26th December 007 which are Government acknowledged religious holidays of the Christian community.
1.4 The Superintendent of Police and the District Collector had been repeatedly informed by the people and people in position in the Church about the possible attack on them by Sangh Parivar followers of Lakhmanananda Saraswati, but they did not order any preventive or pre-emptive official steps, neither did they arrange for any security measures for the Christian community.
1.5 In Brahminigaon, Balliguda, Darigbadi, Phringia, the Inspector In charge of the Police or the Officer I charge of the police post were aware of the possible attacks on Christians in the areas of their jurisdiction. Despite this prior knowledge, the Sub Divisional Police Office and the Sub Collector who are directly responsible for binding the peace and supervising the law and order situation did not take necessary and appropriate action.
1.6 The state Police intelligence organisations, Criminal Intelligence and investigation units, the Bureau of Intelligence apparently either did not know about the impending clash, or did not understand the significance of the information, or did not bother to inform superior authority..
1.7 What was the role of the Forest department offices and Staff as much o the activities of the Sangh Parivar were taking place there, including training camps, the plot to cut trees to block roads and to cut telephone lines including WLL [wireless local loop village telephone systems which are owned by the Government of India. The telephone structures for mobile phone transmissions that were switched off at strategic times. No action has been taken to trace the criminals.
1.8 The state highways and national highway number 317 passing through the affected were blocked by trees. How do the authorities explain the delay in removing the road blocks, most o which could have been easily done to open access to police forces? What is the total number of trees so felled by the Sangh Parivar? What action ahs the district forest office and his subordinate officers taken? What was the role of the forest rangers
1.9 We understand that the ITDA [Integrated tribal development agency] of the State Government which is directly responsible for the tribal areas should have been informing their superiors, but failed to do so.
1.10 The State Home ministry, which is directly concerned with issues of law and order has a full record of past acts of violence by the Bajrang Dal, VHP, and RSS, and of Lakhmanananda, and has been extremely indulgent towards them. It has also been very kind to his lieutenants Giani Sahu, Ramesh Sahu, Shivnananda Patnaik, Sarupanda Patnaik, Pati.
1.11 How many people have been rendered permanently or temporarily unemployed because of the violence?
1.12 Why the BJP and some other political parties were allowed during the curfew to tour the affected areas.
1.13 What is the status of “”Danda Daba’ [sacred groves] of the ancient religions of the adivasis of the region. Have they been recorded, documented, protected, and preserved. How many hav been destroyed, and why whom. Any cases registered.
1.14 Number of cases registered also under SC and ST Prevention of atrocity act 1989 against aggressors who injured christens and others.
1.15 Has OFRA, the so called Religious Freedom law, been applied against Sangh Parivar., If not, why not?
1.16 There has been gender violence against Christian religious women and other women.
1.17 What action has government taken so far against hate speeches of Saraswati recorded by policemen accompanying the swami after 24th December violence?
1.18 What steps has government taken to improve communications in Kandhamala, including installing more towers for mobile phones and WLL phones?
1.19 Has a case against people been registered s for the death of cow killed in the arson on convent in Balliguda?
1.20 What provision for security has been made once the Central Reserve Police Force leaves?
1.21 Sources of income of the said Swami?
An appendix: As the nation pays tribute to Baba Amte, a most well deserved tribute for his life long service to victims of Leprosy, it is also important to be reminded how some self styled `patriotic’ groups treat others who also serve victims of leprosy, tuberculosis and other communicable diseases deep in the forests of the Kandhamala district of Orissa, India.
From Brother Oscar Tete
Local Superior of the Missionaries of Charity
Shanti Nivas
Srasananda, PO Telapally,
Kandhamala District, Orissa 762 011
Dated 5th February 2008
To The Officer in Charge,
Police Station Sadar, Phulbani
Kandhamala District, Orissa
Re: In the matter of case Number 66 Dated 31.12.2007. Additional First Information Report, without prejudice, in the mater of attack on Brothers of Missionaries of Charity running the Shanti Nivas home for Tuberculosis patients and Leprosy afflicted persons, and looting and destruction of property in arson and violence on Christmas day 25th December 2007, on the above mentioned Medical centre buildings, Brother’ residence, Catholic Chapel, Shrine of the Blessed Mother Mary, Dispensary, food godown, and theft of medicines, materials, goats, rabbits and other animals. Also, the destruction and disruption of the telephone and electric connections, and destruction of the government property of the WLL phone system.
Sir,
We had on 2nd January 2008 filed a complaints with PS Sadar Phulbani on the above mentioned attack on me and my fellow Brothers and medical centre inmates, as also on our home, medial centre and other buildings, large scale arson and destruction of all property, and looting of our goods, materials, food, animals, and dispersal of our patients under duress in the presence of the a magistrate and three policemen including the OIC and a head constable together with over 20 Home Guards. At the time of the attack by local members of the RSS as well as outsiders belonging to the same group which are followers of one Lakhmanananda Saraswati with his ashram at Chokapada, we had to run away for our lives as we were being chased by many of these people who were pelting stones at us and threatening us with sharp edged weapons and fire arms.
At that time, to our surprise, the police also told the local villagers who were near the Chapel on Christmas day to also run away and leave the village.
In that frame of mind and in utter fear of our lives, we with great difficultly; were able to at last file a basic report with the police on 2nd January 2008. In our fear of that time and our anxiety, the report was very basic and incomplete because the situation continued to be very tense and we were fearful even to come to the police station lest we be assaulted once again.
Now we have surveyed the damage done and the impact of the violence on Shanti Nivas, and wish to report the full details of the incident and the extent of damage as follows for inclusion in our initial report and complaint.
My name is Brother Oscar Tete, MC, son of Mr. Tintus Tete, resident of Shanti Nivas, Srasananda, District Kandhamala, Orissa since June 2007 an originally resident of Missionaries of Charity General Office, 7 Mansatala Row, Kidderpur, Kolkata, West Bengal. I am the local superior of Shanti Nivas which is located 15 kilometers from Phulbani town and about ten kilometers from Sadar police station on Phulbani-Balliguda road. The Shanti Nivas caters to patients of leprosy, Tuberculosis and other communicable diseases. It is the only medical centre of its kind in Kandhamala district and currently provides free of cost service to about 33 patients [at the time of attack] in the wards and about 20 outpatients every day. The Shanti Nivas complex consists of two wards for 33 patients, twenty beds for general patients like local illness, malnutrition, old age complications and mental retardation. The centre has been functioning without incident since its founding nearly twenty five years ago. All current patients belong to the Hindu religion and to both the Dalit and Tribal communities with whom we have always had excellent relations.
Our complex also consists of a medical godown, food store for the patients, offices, residence for the four MC Brothers, outhouses or the animals including goats and rabbits, chicken etc. We also have ambulances and godowns for our vehicles and stores.
Central to our medical centre was our spiritual space, including a Chapel and a Grotto with a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The Chapel and the Grotto had been decorated for Christmas on 24th December 2007 as we were expecting the normal large participation of the local people without exclusion of any community, as also the pious prayerful presence of local believers and faithful. This was the normal practice very year and every year, it was a very joyful occasion enjoyed by all local people. The police, in fact, had always and every year provided us adequate police guards on the occasion.
This year also on 24th December night 2007,a group of Orissa Home guards cam to the Shanti Nivas where local faithful had already gathered by Nine PM for the annual prayer service to mark the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
At 4 pm, I was in Phulbani to make some last minute purchases in the market for Christmas and to provide some Christmas gifts to the Prisoners in Phulbani jail as is our normal annual practice to share the joy of Christmas with all people. I was returning by about 7 pm to Shanti Nivas when I learnt that Churches had been attacked in Brahminigaon by RSS followers of Swami Lakhmanananda Saraswati, who has been spreading hate against Christians. I discovered that the road to Shanti Nivas had been blocked by a group people who were armed with axes and weapons. Some of them were cutting trees down and putting them across the road to block it. I was apprehensive of my security, and was forced to leave my vehicle. The ambulance returned to Phulbani with the driver. I walked to Shanti Nivas.
By the time I reached Shanti Nivas, it was 9 p.m. Knowing that Churches were being attacked in various places in the Kandhamala district, I was apprehensive about the security and well being of the local believers who I knew were present in the chapel attached to the medical centre of Shanti Nivas. I asked a handful of our young believers to stay back with four brothers of the MCs. And I urged the women and children to return to the security and safety of their homes in the villages around. The women and children left reluctantly.
At 11.30 p.m., a group of Orissa Home guards came to Shanti Nivas. They were carrying only lathis.
That night, we cancelled all prayer services for the public, but continued to pray silently and privately for the safety of our villagers and our fellow believers in various parts of Kandhamala who were being attacked.
In the morning of Christmas day 25th December 2007 at 11 a.m., the local villagers who were Christian believers and their friends gathered once again at the Chapel for the prayer service. The prayer service was over by 2.30 noon and the Home guards were present during this entire process.
Around 3.30, a fresh group of Orissa Home guards personnel came to join the existing Home guard along with a Lady Magistrate whose name can be ascertained from the official records, and the OIC, and two policemen. Their names can also be ascertained from the official diaries of the police station.
Around 9.15 p.m., the Lady magistrate called me to her presence where she was sitting near the staircase of the chapel. She asked me to shift the 33 patients to the villages saying “I cannot protect you with only the Home Guards with lathis. I have no rifles and so you shift your patients to the village where they will be safe, and start removing your important possessions”.
I told her it would not be so easy or possible to shift the patients, some of whom were very serious and bed ridden, some were blind and it was difficult to carry them on such long distances on foot to the villages.
The Lady magistrate then told me to shift all the 33 patients to a single room. I did this with great difficulty with the assistance of the young Christians who were with me.
I started removing some personal and important possessions such as clothing and a little cash, bank passbook etc.
While I was doing this, I and my other MC Brothers discovered that the Lady Magistrate and the Police were not to be found, and had apparently deserted us and only the Home Guards remained.
At around 10 p.m. on 25th December 2007, our electric supply was cut, as also the telephone connection which was a government owned WLL connection with its tower attached to the Residence of the MC Brothers on one side of the Shanti Nivas complex.
As the lights went off and the power cut, we came out in fear as never before had the power gone off at this time of the night.
As soon as we came out, we saw a large group of people coming towards us. They were shouting Jai Shri Ram, as also Hindu-Hindu Bhai Bhai. I could hear these slogans clearly. They were also abusing Christians in the foulest language. I saw one of the persons in the front of the aggressors holding a sword like sharp weapon. We started running in fear of our lives from the murderous mob.
But even as the mob was approaching, and later through asking other eye witnesses, we could identify the following persons to be part of the murderous attacking mob. Their names are contained in the list at Annexure I:
We hid on the other wide of the boundary wall and watched in terror and fear as the mob divided into groups as if in a well planned attack. One group came to the grotto which had the statue of Virgin Mary. They smashed the statue and set fire to it using some oil like substance they had brought with them in plastic carriers. They used the same oil to put on the Christmas Crib decoration in front of the Grotto and burnt it, in the process burning a part of the tree branch overhanging the decoration.
Another part of the mob consisting of many people -- some of whom carried more oil in blue and other coloured plastic automobile oil cans -- broke open the door of the chapel. Inside, they smashed the altar and decorations, sprinkled automobile oil on the material and set it on fire. They also broke and destroyed every single statue and paintings on the walls of the chapel, altar, vestry and inner rooms, including copies of the Holy Bible, the Cross and images of Lord Jesus Christ. They then burnt there.
The mob then went to the back of the complex and totally destroyed our Residence, our office, the wards of the patients, the kitchen, the godowns, guest room, drivers room, office and garage. Even the toilets were not spared and the ceramic toilets were broken, the water pipes smashed, the Holy Cross pulled down and table fans, windows and electric fixtures destroyed.
The mob then came down the slope and attacked another area and the medical store, destroying precious and expensive medical equipment, medicines and a stretcher. The ambulance escaped damage because it had been sent to Phulbani.
Some of them then chased our many animals and killed them and carried them away, including rabbits and goats which we had kept. We are attaching tentative list of the goods looted and properties destroyed in Annexure II.
On 26th December 2007, the villagers, who were still very scared and frightened, came to see if we were safe. Seeing all the destruction, they told us they would help us and take care of any patients who came.
We and our patients were provided food by the villagers with the government not helping us at all.
From 26th December 2007 night till the night of 28th December 2007, we spent every night in the forest for fear we would be killed. We returned during the day to take care of the remaining patients.
We are still not able to resume normalcy in the Shanti Nivas nor can we treat our patients. We have reluctantly sent the patients to other centres run by us in Berhampur and other towns.
We still live in daily fear of mortal danger to our life, and injury to our person.
We have not been given any security.
We also do not know the fate of our oral complaints to senior officers.
We also do not know if any of the assailants, who have been identified by us and by the villagers who were eye witnesses, have been arrested by the police.
We are filing this additional report to make it part of the official FIR filed by us on 2nd January 2008.
We deeply regret that even that report was refused to be registered by the police officers at Police Station Sadar giving us vague reasons. We then gave a written copy to senior officers, which was acknowledged OIC PS Sadar on 2nd January 2008.
All that I have stated in this report has been witnessed by my personally.
Brother Oscar Tete MC
Local Superior
Shanti Nivas, Srasananda, Kandhamala District
Orissa
Enclosures
Preliminary list of assailants identified by us.
Assessment of damage to property and material possessions
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