Hindu militants they say were involved in the murder of an Australian missionary and his two children in the troubled state of Orissa.
Their statements came as Hindu groups in Orissa began reportedly distributing thousands of sharp weapons, the same types that were allegedly used in 1999 to injure Australian Missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons Philip and Timothy before they were burned to death in Manoharpur village, BosNewsLife’s Orissa Bureau established.
Seven of the 11 suspects aqcuitted by an Orissa Supreme Court last week were released from Choudwar jail in Khurda district, Indian news reports said Tuesday May 24. The death sentence of main suspect Dara Singh was changed into life imprisonment, while the court also upheld the life sentence of the other defendant, Mahendra Hembram.
"The Global Council of Indian Christians is shocked and dismayed by the exoneration of the murder gang involved in the brutal carnage of Australian missionary [Staines]", the organization said. "I am against capital punishment and have been campaigning against the death penalty, for any crime, for more than three decades," admitted John Dayal, the National President of the All India Catholic Union, which represents an estimated 16 million Catholics in India.
"DISTURBING" RULING
However "I still find it very intriguing and disturbing…The High Court upturned the death sentence, commuting it to a life term in prison, and also set free eleven others charged in the crime. In the Indian situation, a life term can range from seven to 14 years, with time off for various reasons. [This] means Dara Singh could be free in less than ten years," he told the BosNewsLife New Delhi Bureau in a statement.
He stressed the Supreme Court of India said "capital punishment should be given in the rarest of the rare cases. Surely the killing of an innocent family of three, serving the most ostracized of India’s people, constituted such a rare crime." Dayal said that "the exoneration of the killers, who were part of the conspiracy hatched by Dara Singh, and the commutation of his own death sentence, make one wonder at the judicial reasoning. If these eleven are innocent of the crime, where are those who are guilty?"
Christians have also expressed concern about alleged police protection for Hindu groups they claim were involved in the murder of the missionary, amid reports they plan to distribute sharp weapons made of tridents to 50,000 ground level activists. Churches allege the aim is to create fear among Orissa’s Christian community.
DISTRIBUTION WEAPONS
On Sunday, May 22, fundamentalist group Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its paramilitary wing Bajrang Dal begins organized the first ‘Trishul Diskha’ or ‘Trident Distribution’ party in the state, despite protests from political parties.
Over 500 people were seen participating in the event in Orissa’s Puri District, and several
long and sharp tridents were distributed to the VHP and Bajrang Dal activists. Church sources say Staines and his two minor sons were injured with trident before they were burnt alive.
Bajrang Dal and the VHP’s man and women devisions have also reportedly used Tridents and long sticks to storm the Orissa parliament in the state capita Bhubaneswar and damaged properties there.
CHURCHES CONCERNED
On Sunday, May 22, police cordoned off an area where youth armed with swords and long sticks marched through the Nimapara area. Church officials fear the weapons will soon be used against Christian believers after VHP’s national leader Rajendra Pankaj and State Convener of Bajrang Dal Subash Chouhan reportedly threatened to attack a Christian pastor
unless he stops preaching Christianity.
Human rights groups and church leaders have urged the national government to step up efforts to end what they see as rising Hindu violence against minority Christians and missionaries across Orissa and other Indian states.
