by Nirmala Carvalho

Out of 30 people charged, only 22 have been arrested. Of these, 17 have been released on bail. For Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar archbishop, this is “a heartbreak for those who suffered” and “the situation now appears discouraging.”

New Delhi (AsiaNews) – The Odisha High Court Corte released two of ten men accused of raping a Catholic nun during the 2008 pogrom in Orissa. The Crime Branch (CB) had arrested Pandit Kumar Bismajhi and Jatia Sahu the last June on charges that they had taken part in the attack. However, the high court decided to grant them bail of 20,000 rupees each. Sister Meena Barwa, 29 at the time, was attacked and raped on 25 August 2008 in Kandhamal District, during anti-Christian unrest that broke out following the death of a prominent Hindu leader, Laxmanananda Saraswati.

In its original investigation, the CB had filed charges against 30 people. Police however managed to arrest only 22. Eventually, 17 were released on bail.

For Mgr John Barwa, archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar, such a ruling is a “setback to the already slow course of justice, a heartbreak for those who suffered. The situation now appears discouraging and pessimism is growing about the future. Wounds are still deep and scars are still there. Healing will be complete only when justice is done.”

The archbishop heard about the release of the two men this morning. He was in Kandhamal, at the diocesan pastoral centre, where Sister Meena works. “Such a ruling is a serious blow to the dignity of women in our beloved nation,” he explained. India is a place “where religious freedom, tolerance and peaceful coexistence of people of different religions have always been a part of its rich cultural heritage.”

Sister Meena, a Servite nun, was able to talk about the violence against her only two months after the fact, in October 2008.

She has urged India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take on the case, because local police is friendly with her attackers.

For Sajan K George, president of the Council of India Christians (GCIC), “The state of Orissa is also responsible for the anti-Christian attacks in surrounding states.”

He made the statement after the GCIC organised a sit-in and hunger strike in Bhubaneshwar to put pressure on the central government to investigate radical Hindu violence (see Nirmala Carvalho, “2008 Orissa massacres: Christians fast for justice,” in AsiaNews, 6 May 2011).

• india
• orissa
• kandhamal
• sister
• meena
• rape
• trial
• investigation
• hindu
• radicals