Just over three months after unprecedented violence broke out against Christians in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, Christian leaders say that many victims remain homeless and destitute. The All India Christian Council (aicc) continues relief efforts and, due to a successful court case, temporarily has permission to distribute relief directly to the victims. Also, the UN sent an investigator to visit, and other aicc state chapters are assisting in various ways as Orissa Christians recover from December’s attacks.

At the beginning of March, an aicc assessment team visited the rural villages that were most affected by the communal violence. They found many people were not getting government rations – some because of discrimination. The government relief camps were poorly managed.

On March 18-19, 2008, five villages near the town of Raika were chosen for the first wave of relief. The Orissa leaders of aicc worked with GSC Church pastors and other local Christians to distribute the following items to 112 families (about 650 people): food (rice, dal, oil, biscuits, sugar, tea, powdered milk), clothing (dhoti & shirt for men, sari & coat for women), bed sheets & sleeping mats, mosquito nets, metal storage box, soap, hair oil, kitchen utensils, and travel money.

Since February 2008, the aicc had been working with Dalit and civil rights groups as well as local Christians to conduct other types of relief. Due to a government ban on direct distribution of relief, the aicc was only allowed to conduct communal harmony meetings, send two trauma counseling teams to assess and provide assistance with medical bills, replace textbooks for school children who were preparing for yearly exams, and offer legal assistance. Many Christians who lost their homes or were beaten don’t know how to file FIR (First Information Report)  with police or are immobilised by fear. These efforts will continue as well as other specific requests (i.e. aicc provided 500 Bibles for churches who had lost everything and wanted to conduct Easter services).

On Feb. 26, 2008, Advocate Pratap Chhinchani filed a case in the Orissa High Court on behalf of the aicc Orissa state chapter president, Dr. P. R. Parichha. The case challenged the January 11th order of the Kandhamal District Collector which banned distribution of relief by non-government groups directly to victims. On March 18, 2008 the Orissa High Court stayed the order of the District Collector until a hearing on April 3, 2008. This gave interim permission for aicc and others to conduct direct relief. The case, Writ Petition Civil No. 3028 of 2008, requests permission for charitable and religious institutions to conduct relief and rehabilitation.

Numerous reports are surfacing of unfair treatment by government assessors who aren’t giving the promised compensation to people who have lost their homes. Six Christian men who were arrested from Bamunigaon, the epicenter of the Christmas 2007 violence, on various false charges and jailed for weeks were released a few days ago. In early March, the aicc Gujarat chapter president and a retired Indian Police officer arrived in Orissa to offer assistance.  Together with aicc Orissa leaders, they formed a strategy to pursue justice for victims and prevent this type of violence in the future.

On March 15, aicc coordinated a meeting in Bhubaneswar with Ms. Asma Jahangir, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, and her assistant. The Special Rapporteur met with victims and, later, with leaders from civil society, human rights groups, and several Christian leaders of various missions and denominations. She specifically mentioned the Orissa violence as an area of particular concern in her March 20 press conference in New Delhi. Her final report will appear in a few months. The last Special Rapporteur visited India in 1996.

Between December 24, 2007 and end of January 2008, approximately 1000 Christian homes were attacked and  set on fire, about 35 Christian shops vandalised, and 95 churches destroyed.