By Matters India Reporter
Bhubaneswar, Aug 10, 2022: An ongoing prayer campaign for Truth and Justice for Kandhamal has been formulated into a 14-day special prayer ahead of the 14th anniversary of Kandhamal bloodshed and persecution.
“Nobody can stop us from praying,” said journalist author Anto Akkara who has been anchoring a campaign seeking Truth and Justice for the hapless victims of the orchestrated violence in remote Kandhamal jungles of eastern Odisha state.
Christian targets in the idyllic jungle district went up in flames following the murder of 81-year-old Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati, who was mysteriously shot dead in his ashram in Kandhamal on Janmashtami night August 23, 2008.
Claiming the murder to be a “Christian conspiracy,” Hindu nationalists promptly paraded the body of the slain Hindu leader across Kandhamal in a zig-zag funeral procession for two days, calling for revenge on Christians.
The Hindu zealots ordered Christians to recant their faith and undergo “reconversion” to be allowed to continue to live in the region, and some who refused were chopped into pieces or burnt alive.
Nearly 100 Christians embraced martyrdom, while thousands fled to jungles during weeks of unabated violence that left more than 300 churches and 6,000 houses plundered as well as rendering 56,000 homeless in Kandhamal.
With hardly any conviction for serious crimes like murders, justice remains a mirage in Kandhamal even after 14 years. It is pity that the Supreme Court of India itself deplored in 2016 – “Such a large proportion is very disturbing” and unacceptable level of acquittals and “inadequate compensation” for the Kandhamal victims – still remains largely unaddressed.
The Supreme Court verdict in its 2016 verdict noted that, of the 827 criminal cases registered, 315 cases were not pursued, while of 362 cases in which a verdict was given, “only 78” resulted in a conviction.
To add insult to injury, Seven Innocents Christians – six of them illiterates including a mentally challenged – had been arrested and put on trial to cover up the ‘Christian conspiracy theory’ behind Swami’s murder. They were convicted in 2013 by a third judge after two judges had been transferred.
Amid the appeal against their fraudulent conviction dragging on in Odisha High Court since 2013, the Supreme Court released the ‘seven innocent’ Christians on bail in 2019.
Kandhaml’s Travesty of Justice is summed up at the website and online signature campaign www.release7innocents.com, anchored by Akkara.
“Only acquittal of these innocent Christians will pave for finding out the Truth behind Kandhamal bloodshed. Every Christian should pray for this,” said Akkara, who has prepared Prayers in English, Hindi, Odia, Malayalam and Tamil.