(Aug.03, 2011) Police in eastern India’s Orissa State, have come under fire for
refusing to investigate the recent death of a pastor in Mediakia village in Kandhamal
District. Local sources say Pastor Michael Nayak died in a road accident on July
27 and that local village head, Pramod Mallick, had reported that he had found the
body and a motorbike lying by a road in the village. However, Churchmen and the clergyman’s
family say, the police have done nothing to try and discover the exact cause of the
pastor’s death ,and that it could well have been murder. Kandhamal district was
the center of unprecedented anti-Christian violence that lasted seven weeks in 2008,
killing nearly 100 people and displacing thousands. Christians say they are still
being repressed, despite government claims the area has returned to normality. The
pastor’s death is the second such incident in the state in which, police have passed
off the death of a clergyman as an accident, said Brother K.G. Markose, a lawyer. Six
months ago another pastor, Saul Pradhan, was found dead near a pond in Pakala. The
police said he had drowned. Brother Markose, who is also handling the Pradhan case,
said it took six months and a court order to get the police to take up the case. Fr.
Dibakar Parichha from Bhubaneswar diocese believes police reluctance to investigate
the pastor’s death is part of a conspiracy. “It is organized crime, the fanatics strike
at regular intervals and local authorities try to cover it up. As long as this practice
continues, the elimination of Christians will continue”, he added.