Six years imprisonment for five in Kandhamal riot case

Six years of rigorous imprisonment was awarded to five convicts in the 2008 Kandhamal riot case.

A fast track court at Phulbani convicted Bisra Kanhar, Durbasha Kanhar, Rabi Kanhar, Gupteswar Kanhar and Naresh Kanhar and sentenced them to six years imprisonment.

Sobhan Kumar Das, the additional sessions judge, while pronouncing the verdict also ordered that the convicts pay a fine of Rs 6,000 each.

The court had examined eight witnesses and further judged that the guilty had set fire to many houses last September when violence following the murder of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati was at its peak.

Earlier last month, a 58-year-old Kandhamal riot-accused was sentenced to two years of jail.

In its first conviction since August 23, one of the two fast track court set to try riot cases, found Chakradhar Malik guilty and sent him to two years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000.

Apart from his role in the riots, Malik also was found guilty for setting fire to a house and threatening to murder a Christian.

10,000 people were named in 827 cases registered during the August riots. Chargesheet has already been filed in 437 cases and investigation was on in other 354 cases, including the nun's rape.

A judicial commission already has begun investigating into the Kandhamal violence and has even submitted a 28-page interim report to the state government.

In the report, the commission headed by retired Justice Sarat Chandra Mohapatra, said, "the final recommendations would take at least another two years for completion."

The commission examined an estimated three hundred affidavits before releasing its interim report in which it asked the Orissa government to settle land, fake caste certificate and conversion issues.

"Cumulative anger of locals, mostly tribals, who felt neglected for years fuelled the prolonged violence in Kandhamal," the report added.

The report, however, made no mention of the role of saffron outfits in the violence after the murder of Swami Laxmananda. It also did not blame any religious body or the Maoists who claimed to have conducted the August 23 assassination.