Failure of law and justice worries Christians in Orissa

The travesty of justice in Kandhamal courts is deeply worrying church leaders in Orissa.

According to Archbishop of Orissa Raphael Cheenath, witnesses are being coerced, threatened, cajoled and sought to be bribed by murderers and arsonists facing trial.

The witnesses are also threatened in their homes with elimination, and even their distant relatives are being coerced specially in the murder and arson cases against Legislative Assembly Member Manoj Pradhan, said Cheenath.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, the senior church leader called for a Special Investigation team to probe the cases of murder and arson. Similarly, he said, there is also need for transferring the cases against politically powerful persons such as Manoj Pradhan, MLA, to outside Kandhamal, preferably to Cuttack or Bhubaneswar.

"We are deeply concerned the high rate of acquittals in the fast Track courts. The victims filed 3,232 Complaints in the police stations of Kandhamal. Of these, the police registered cases in only 832 instances," Cheenath later said in a press statement.

Despite the less number of cases, he pointed that only 123 were transferred to the two Fast Track Courts. And of this, 71 cases have been tried in the two courts and 63 cases have been disposed off.

"Only 89 persons have been convicted so far while as many as 251 have been acquitted and set free for want to witnesses against them," Cheenath pointed.

It is strange that in the case of ten deaths by murder, nine cases have been closed without anybody being convicted while there has been partial conviction in the case of one death. Who will bring justice in the case of the nine murder cases?" he asked.

BJP legislation Manoj Pradhan is one of many loosely let off in a series of cases. Pradhan was acquitted over four times for "lack of evidence". The accused has 14 criminal cases, including seven charges of murder.

Meanwhile, Christian leaders have called for a special package for the victims of violence. "The compensation package declared by the State Government is very meagre, which is not sufficient for the house construction or any other purpose," they rued.

"This is a national calamity and demands a special package for the affected people which should include land, income generation, education and health care, etc., so that the poor innocent families who have lost everything can be rehabilitated properly."