Five sentenced to prison in Orissa violence case

(July29,2009): Church leaders in India have welcomed the prison sentences a Court has handed to five people it convicted of taking part in anti-Christian violence last year in eastern Orissa State. “It is a good development. It will go a long way in meting out justice to our people,” Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar told UCA News on July 28, a day after the Court announced its decision. The prelate heads the Catholic Church in Orissa state. The court sentenced each of the 5 persons Disara Kanhar, Durbasa Kanhar, Gupteswar Kanhar, Rabindra Kanhar and Naresh Kanhar to six years of rigorous imprisonment. It also ordered each one to pay a fine of 5,000 rupees (US$105), special public prosecutor Bijoy Krishna Pattnaik told reporters.
Christians in the riot-hit villages were still living in fear, because they saw people, who perpetrated and led the violence, moving around freely, Archbishop Cheenath said. “The convictions and punishment will encourage our people to go back to the villages and start a new life,." he added.
Elsewhere, Father Dominic Emmanuel, spokesperson for Delhi archdiocese, welcomed the Court decision, but said the cases should be considered more seriously.” Instigators of violence should be punished severely, so that it would be a lesson to themselves and others, who spread sectarian hatred,” the Divine Word priest told UCA News.