Posted on Feb 12, 2010 | by Staff

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Thousands of Christians in India’s Orissa state still live in makeshift shanties along roadsides and in forests a full 18 months after Hindu extremists forced them from their homes in a spasm of violence that claimed more than 100 lives and destroyed nearly 4,900 homes and church buildings.

Government officials have failed to provide promised assistance to more than 10,000 families driven from their homes after Christians were falsely accused of killing a Hindu leader in August 2008, Raphael Cheenath, a Roman Catholic archbishop, told Compass Direct Feb. 6.

“The block officers have been playing with the facts, indulging in corrupt practices and cosmetic exercises whenever political and other dignitaries come to visit or inspect,” Cheenath said in a statement. “Innocent people are coerced into giving a false picture … This is a national calamity.”

Cheenath’s comments came the day after a European Union delegation concluded a visit to Orissa that Hindu nationalist leader Jual Oram called “interference into internal affairs of a sovereign independent member state under the U.N.,” Compass Direct reported. EU representative Gabriele Annis said the delegation was able to hold “open and frank” discussions with officials during the visit.

Christian leaders in the area said district authorities attempted to hide the plight of Christians by evacuating nearly 100 people from one village prior to the EU delegation’s visit.

Of 3,232 complaints filed with police after the 2008 violence, only 832 cases were formally registered, Cheenath said. Of that number, only 123 cases have been transferred to courts. Of 71 cases tried to date, convictions have been handed down in 25 cases. Nine of 10 murders have been closed without any conviction.

“Who will bring justice in the case of the nine murder cases?” Cheenath asked.

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Compiled by Baptist Press assistant editor Mark Kelly.

http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=32281