US-based rights group International Christian Concern (ICC), with Website www.persecution.org, told BosNewsLife that Iber Naik, from the town of Barakhama in Orissa’s Kandhamal District, was held since February 24 on charges of being the "kingpin" of violence that began last Christmas Eve and lasted for around 10 days.
“This is despite the fact that the majority of the victims were Christians who were attacked by Hindu mobs,” ICC said. At least six Christians were killed, ICC added. Other reports have said up to nine people died in the December clashes, although it was unclear if all of them were Christians.
The attacks, described by Christian leaders as “India’s worst-ever anti-Christian violence,” also resulted in the destruction of more than 700 houses and close to 100 churches, ICC and other sources said.
CHRISTIANS RETALIATE
As a result of the attacks, some Christians retaliated, and at least one Hindu was reportedly killed and a few houses belonging to Hindus were burned down, Christians said. Naik allegedly took part in the alleged mob killing of a Hindu. Naik, who was reportedly arrested near his hometown of Barakhama, has denied the charges.
The president of advocacy group Global Council of India (GCIC), Sajan George, has reportedly said that the slain Hindu died in an "inferno while indulging in arson and looting of Christian property."
Many other Christians have also been arrested on “false charges”, lawyers say. As an example, ICC quoted the general secretary of the Christian Legal Association, Tehmina Arora, as saying that two associates of Naik, identified as Prakash Naik and Digal, were arrested after they went to the local police station to complain of attacks on their houses and church.
ORISSA AUTHORITIES
Orissa authorities have been trying to shift people’s attention away from the role of nationalist Hindu groups involved in the violence, ICC said. “The Orissa state government claimed that the violence was caused by Maoists and the trouble was not due to religious conversion.”
However representatives of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), who visited the region in January, reportedly said that an anti-conversion campaign conducted by Hindu groups created an "atmosphere of prejudice and suspicion against the Christian community and Christian priests and organizations."
The Orissa government has made clear it set up a judicial commission, headed by a retired judge, Basudev Panigrahi, to probe the violence. The commission is expected to begin its investigation soon. Orissa has been hostile to Christians for many years, ICC said. Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two underage children were burnt to death by a Hindu mob in January 1999 in the state.
