Orissa violence ’sought Christian enslavement’

(Aug.26,2010) Anti-Christian violence in India’s eastern Orissa State was an orchestrated attempt by Hindu fanatics to enslave lower cast people, a special tribunal in New Delhi has said. Religion was used as an excuse to execute their plans, a “jury” of former judges and eminent citizens said in a report at the end of a National People’s Tribunal (NPT) on Tuesday. The hearing was held to mark the second anniversary of the start of the riots.
Sectarian “forces used religious conversions to incite horrific forms of violence and discrimination against Christians of low caste origin and their supporters in Kandhamal,” the report said. The objective of the violence was “to dominate” the poor “to ensure that they never rose in social status, so they would remain subservient to higher castes,” it said. The 12-member jury heard evidence from 43 victims and testimonies of bishops, officials and social activists from Orissa’s Kandhamal district, the center of the 2008 violence.
The tribunal was established by the National Solidarity Forum, a coalition of some 50 volunteer organizations and rights groups. The report also recommended the establishment of a special team to investigate existing and fresh allegations of crimes committed during the violence. Trials have been compromised by ineffective prosecutions and the wilful downgrading of crimes by police, it said. The state government must “greatly increase” compensation packages and take steps to strengthen the justice system, the tribunal said.