By Matters India Reporter
Baripada: Odisha remembers the 18th death anniversary of the martyrdom of Graham Stuart Staines and two his sons Philip and Timothy aged 8 and 10 on September 22.
They were alive in a van in Manoharpur village of Odisha on January 22nd night in 1999. Staines (1941 – 23 January 1999) was an Australian Christian missionary, who, along with his two sons were burnt to death by a gang while sleeping in his station wagon at Manoharpur village in the eastern Indian state of Odisha on 23rd January 1999.
In 2003, a Bajrang Dal activist, Dara Singh, was convicted of leading the gang that murdered Graham Staines and his sons and was sentenced to life in prison.
He had been working in Odisha among the tribal poor and lepers since 1965. Some Hindu groups alleged that Staines had forcibly converted or lured many Hindus into Christianity.
Staines’ widow Gladys denied these allegations. She continued to live in India caring for leprosy patients until she returned to Australia in 2004.
In 2005 she was awarded the fourth highest civilian honor in India, Padma Shree, in recognition for her work with leprosy patients in Odisha.
In 2016, she received the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice!