Orissa HC verdict in Staines murder case may lead to bloodshed, fear Christian groups

Bhubaneswar – The shocking verdict of the Orissa High Court on May 19 in the Staines murder case, commuting the death sentence of the prime accused, Dara Singh, and the acquittal of 11 others will encourage Hindu extremists to unleash a fresh wave of terror against religious minorities and will result in bloodshed, Christian Churches and advocacy groups have warned, Christian Today has confirmed.

The warning came as Hindu groups in Orissa began reportedly distributing thousands of sharp weapons including tridents, the same types that were allegedly used in 1999 to injure Australian Missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons Philip and Timothy before they were burned to death in Manoharpur village, Orissa.

The murder case that tugged the conscience of the nation and received global media coverage took place in the night of January 22, 1999 when Dara Singh, alias Ravindra Kumar Pal, instigated a Hindu mob and attacked the Australia missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons who were sleeping in their jeep parked on the outskirts of Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district, Orissa. In the darkness of the night, the mob, led by Dara Singh, torched the jeep, thereby burning the occupants alive.

On June 22, 1999, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chargesheeted 18 persons including Dara Singh for the murder but it was only on January 31, 2000, that Dara Singh was finally arrested in the jungles of Mayurbhanj district, Orissa.

On September 22, 2003, the District and Sessions Court, Khurda, sentenced Dara Singh to death and awarded life imprisonment to 12 others. However, on October 10, Dara Singh challenged the ruling of the lower court in the High Court of Orissa, finally getting a reprieve on May 19.

While delivering its 106–page judgment, the Division Bench, comprising of Chief Justice Surjit Burman Roy and Justice Laxmikanta Mahapatra, stated, “The eyewitnesses never attributed any particular fatal injury to appellant Dara Singh for which he can be held individually responsible for the death of the three deceased persons or for the death of any of them. Evidence against the participants – including Dara Singh – being of identical nature, they were all equally responsible for the three murders. Therefore, no justification is available from the evidence on record to single out Dara Singh for convicting him under Section 302 IPC…the sentence of death thereunder cannot be sustained and must be set aside.”

However, the court went on to add that though the appellant cannot be held individually liable, he can be held “liable vicariously along with others by invoking Section 149 IPC, for the murder of the three deceased persons.”

Calling the evidence furnished by the prosecution against Dara Singh “weak and speculative in nature,” the Division Bench commuted the death sentence of Dara Singh to one that of life imprisonment and acquitted 11 others whom the lower court had awarded life imprisonment in the case stating that the convictions and sentences of the remaining 11 appellants “cannot be sustained as there is no reliable evidence on record as regards their identification.” The Court, however, confirmed the trial court’s decision to award life imprisonment to another convict, Mahendra Hembrum.

"The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) is shocked and dismayed by the exoneration of the murder gang involved in the brutal carnage of Australian missionary [Staines],” said Sajan K George, national convenor, GCIC. "The Wadha Commission, which investigate the case, reports that Dara Singh was directly involved in the murder case. Contrary to the commission's findings, the High Court of Orissa gave its verdict commuting the death sentence of the prime accused."

According to George, the verdict has come as a shot in the arm for the Hindu extremist groups that would be encouraged to unleash a new reign of terror in Orissa, where the minority community are not well protected. "After the demise of punishment, [Hindu militant groups] Vishwa Hidu Parishad and Bajarang Dal have threatened Christians. Christians in Orissa have been frightened by the clemency shown to the culprits involved in the Australian Missionary Murder case," he said.

"It is for the CBI, the investigating agency in the case, to approach the apex Court in the matter, but if it doesn't, the GCIC will do so," George warned.

The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), condemning the judgment, has called for a “retrial” as it felt that many key witnessed connected with the incident were being intimidated by Hindu extremists and hence could not depose before the court.

"I am against capital punishment and have been campaigning against the death penalty, for any crime, for more than three decades," said John Dayal, the national president of the All India Catholic Union (AICU). “But this judgment is intriguing and disturbing. It sends out a wrong signal at this juncture when the country is trying to get out of the mess of communal hatred and communal crimes."

“The High Court upturned the death sentence, commuting it to a life term in prison, and also set free eleven others charged in the crime. In the Indian situation, a life term can range from seven to 14 years, with time off for various reasons. [This] means Dara Singh could be free in less than ten years,” he said. “Capital punishment should be given in the rarest of the rare cases. Surely the killing of an innocent family of three, serving the most ostracized of India's people, constituted such a rare crime.”

Wondering aloud that “if the eleven acquitted are innocent of the crime, where are those who are guilty?” John Dayal cautioned that the judgment would prompt “criminals to believe that they will not face the law if they harass or even kill Christians.”

John Dayal’s fears are being voiced by many other Christian leaders amid news reports that several Hindu extremist groups, allegedly involved in the murder of the Australian missionary, Graham Staines, are distributing tridents and swords to over 5000 ground level activists.

In one instance, on May 22, one Hindu extremist group, the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council) and its paramilitary wing, the Bajrang Dal (BD) organized the first 'Trishul Diskha' or 'Trident Initiation' ceremony in Orissa, despite protests from other political parties.

According to news reports, over 500 people were seen participating in the event in Puri, Orissa, and several long and sharp tridents were distributed to the VHP and Bajrang Dal activists.

What appears to have irked the Church authorities as much as the controversial ceremony, is the alleged police compliance, who are turning a deaf ear to the protests of the Christian communities. For instance, on May 22, instead of stopping the ceremony, a posse of policemen allegedly cordoned off the area, allowing only the Hindu activists, armed with tridents, swords and long sticks, and crying anti–Christian slogans, to march through the Nimapara area. Church officials fear the weapons will soon be used against Christian believers in Orissa and other states after VHP's national leader, Rajendra Pankaj, and state convener of Bajrang Dal, Subhash Chouhan, reportedly threatened to attack a Christian pastor unless he stopped preaching Christianity.

Human rights watchdogs and Christian advocacy groups fear that unless the national government step up efforts to end what they see as rising Hindu violence against minority Christians and missionaries across Orissa and other Indian states, incidents of communal violence and religious intolerance may erupt all over India leading to the loss of countless innocent lives.