Orissa Archbishop 'Distressed' Over Probes

(October 24, 2008) Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar says he is disheartened by the way the Orissa state government has probed violence against Christians. "I am profoundly distressed," said the archbishop in a press statement on Oct. 21. He pointed out that the Orissa government did not consult the victims while appointing an investigatory commission, he said. The Orissa government recently appointed retired state High Court Judge S.C. Mohapatra to head the commission to probe the seven weeks of violence in the state that killed at least 58 people, mostly Christians. In attacks that began on Aug. 24, Hindu extremists also destroyed or burned down around 4,500 houses and 100 churches, prayer halls and other Church institutions. The violence rendered tens of thousands homeless. The worst affected region is Kandhamal district, which comes under Cuttack-Bhubaneswar archdiocese, which is based in the Orissa capital of Bhubaneswar, 1,700 kilometres southeast of New Delhi. "The very least that is expected from the state government is that it takes the victim community into confidence." The Orissa government had appointed a commission to investigate anti-Christian violence that swept Kandhamal district last Christmas season, when Hindu mobs attacked and destroyed churches and Christian institutions, and burned about 400 houses.