Orissa court reopens Christian murder case dismissed by police

August 9, 2012: A court in Baliguda (Kandhamal) ruled that Rev Michael Nayak was murdered by Hindu extremists on 20 July 2011, and issued orders to find the killers. The court's decision overturns an earlier decision by police in Kandhamal to dismiss the murder as an ordinary accident. The court also ordered an inquiry into the actions of the police officers who misled the initial investigation.

For Sajan George, president of the Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), the court's decision sends a positive signal. However, in his view the courts should also rule on five other murder cases involving Christians dismissed by police. The activist noted that Indian courts are excessively slow in case of religious violence as noted by the US State Department's report on religious freedom. "Two weeks before the fourth anniversary of the 2008 anti-Christian massacres in Orissa, the justice system is still far from reaching any results," George said.

For the US State Department report, "Progress in achieving justice for victims of past large-scale incidents of communal violence in India continued to be slow and ineffective. In addition, intimidation, harassment, and occasional small-scale violence against members of religious minority groups continued, particularly against Christians in states with anti-conversion laws."

Between December 2007 and august 2008, Hindu ultranationalists killed 93 people, looted and set fire to more 6,500 homes, and destroyed more than 350 churches and 45 schools. More than 50,000 people, mostly Christians, were forced to flee because of the pogrom. At present, 10,000 have not yet been relocated.

In Orissa, the Church has implemented aid and reconstruction programmes for both Christians and Hindus. In the past few years, police have documented an estimated 3,500 complaints related to the violence and registered 827 cases with the local and state court system.

Of these, approximately 300 cases have now been heard, with 68 individuals found guilty and incarcerated and 412 individuals given minor punishments such as monetary fines. Around 200 cases were dismissed for lack of evidence, and reportedly over 300 cases are pending. Shortcomings in the system are especially evident in the case of Manoj Pradhan, a leader in the Hindu nationalist BJP party, the GCIC president explained.

In September 2010, he was charged with the murder of 11 individuals; however, the state's high court convicted him only for the culpable homicide of one person and ordered him to pay a small fine. Despite that conviction and pending charges for seven other crimes associated with the 2007-2008 violence, Pradhan was released on bail and remains a member of the Orissa state legislature.