Aicc Gives Practical Assistance and Relief
During the first week of May, aicc issued cheques to twenty-two small business owners in Kandhamal District. The gifts ranged from 10,000rs to 100,000rs and will be repaid to a local Dalit labour union fund which will continue to use the money for future loans as needed. Many types of businesses, almost all owned by Dalit Christians or Tribals, were helped, including: medical stores, Xerox shops, computer center, vegetable shops, tailors, chicken shops, restaurants, a welding shop, a bicycle repair shop, and a business that provides light and sound equipment for rental.

There are about eighteen more businesses in need of assistance. However, the initial grants were given to business owners identified by an aicc survey as being particularly needy. Aicc leaders visited the area several times and interviewed the applicants.

As previously reported, aicc distributed food and household items to 112 families (about 650 people) in five villages near Raikia on March 18-19, 2008. Traveling teams of aicc leaders have also helped many victims file FIRs (police cases), reimbursed the medical expenses for many injured people, bought hundreds of textbooks for school children who lost everything, provided Bibles for churches which held Easter services, and offered counseling to promote communal harmony. Lastly, the aicc will help with rebuilding efforts and has initially selected two destroyed churches.

Between Dec. 24, 2007 and Jan. 2, 2008 over 700 Christian homes were burned, four Christians were killed, and about 40 shops belonging to Christians were looted and destroyed. At the end of May, the aicc had verified 124 churches were heavily damaged or destroyed and more reports are still being confirmed.

Partial Legal Victories
In the days immediately after the riots, the local government issued a ban on direct distribution of relief supplies by charitable or religious organisations on January 11, 2008. All aid was required to go through government offices. As a result, the aicc conducted communal harmony meetings, sent two trauma counseling teams to the region, replaced textbooks, and offered legal assistance to victims.

However, the aicc Orissa state chapter took legal action and, on March 18, 2008, the Orissa High Court temporarily stayed (suspended) the ban. This allowed aicc and others to conduct direct relief programs while waiting for a final judgment. The case, Writ Petition Civil No. 3028 of 2008, was filed in the court on Feb. 26, 2008. A hearing and final verdict, originally scheduled for April 3, 2008, has been repeatedly delayed. Now the court is on a summer holiday recess, but will likely begin hearings in mid-June. In what could be an ominous change, Chief Justice A.K. Ganguly was transferred during the break.

A two-judge bench of India’s Supreme Court also stayed the ban on April 7, 2008 (see ruling at: http://courtnic.nic.in/supremecourt/temp/dc%20779608p.txt). The Catholic archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, Mr. Raphael Cheenath, had separately filed a case, Writ Petition Civil No. 1257 of 2008, which said that the Catholic church and affiliated organisations should be allowed to help their own institutions in Orissa. There is no information about when the Supreme Court will make a final decision. The archbishop had appealed to the Supreme Court after the Orissa High Court denied his petition on January 28, 2008, in light of the local authorities’ concerns that religious institutions and NGOs would only focus on a particular community. They said this could create resentment among people from other communities and disrupt peace (“Church free to help Orissa riot victims”, The Telegraph, April 8, 2008, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080408/jsp/nation/story_9108913.jsp).
 
Continuing Discrimination
According to reports by aicc Orissa leaders in late May, Christians in the region continue to face severe discrimination and verbal threats from radical Hindus. For example, in three villages near Barakhama (Salagud, Madagudami, and Perbapanga), several Christian families have been banned by Hindu village leaders from even collecting firewood or food from the surrounding jungle. They are also forbidden from buying or selling anything in local stores. This means that they must travel long distances to buy reconstruction materials from larger towns. Not only do they have to spend money for travel, but bricks and other needed supplies cost more in the towns.

In another incident on May 21, 2008, Swami Saraswati held a rally near Kurder village in rural Orissa. The swami has been implicated in media reports as well as the first official government report as an instigator of the Christmas attacks.

Unaware of the rally, twenty-six Christians had purchased 76 cattle nearby and passed through the village on their way home. They were harassed by the swami’s followers and, for no clear reason, forcibly taken to a village police station. After other Christians heard about the problem and appealed to the Sub-Collector, the men were released. However, two cows were stolen in the process.

All three of the government relief camps were officially closed by April and victims sent back to their homes. However, many homes still lack roofs and in several villages Christians were told "Become Hindu or leave". As a result, about 500 people have returned to the tents at the Barakhama relief camp. However, no food is being distributed in the camp and victims struggle to find firewood for cooking or other household necessities – not to mention adequate medical care or communication with authorities in charge of grants for reconstruction.

During a visit in mid-May to the relief camp, Dr. John Dayal, aicc Secretary General, encountered a young woman with a life-threatening abdominal infection due to a miscarriage. Rashmi, about 16 years old, was married last year and came to the camp with her family after her house was burned down. She contracted malaria, which is rampant in the camp. The doctor did not check her properly, and prescribed a strong anti-malarial drug. Rashmi was pregnant and had a spontaneous abortion. Few, if any, female health workers visit the camp and the Catholic Sisters who occasionally visit didn't notice the young girl suffering silently with acute stomach cramps and a high fever.

When Dr. Dayal and others alerted authorities in the camp, they were uncooperative. The staff at a nearby hospital were reluctant to help. Rashmi was admitted in the hospital and given care only after active intervention by Dr. Dayal. Even then, she was charged for medicines and tests which should be free. This case illustrates the lack of concern by authorities for victims. Although only one death has been confirmed, at least five other people are believed to have died because of improper management at the camp. (Full story at: http://groups.google.com/group/JohnDayal/msg/375f78c929a84b7c)

National Level Investigations Ongoing
An “Independent Tribunal on Kandhamal Violence”, coordinated by Dr. Dayal in mid-May, found that few victims have received government assistance to rebuild their homes. This is particularly urgent since, without roofs, many will suffer in the imminent monsoons. The tribunal traveled to villages affected by the violence, and they collected testimonies and held public hearings from May 13-15, 2008. In a press conference in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, on May 17, 2008, the tribunal said an interim report is being prepared. But questionnaires will be sent to State and Central Government authorities for their comments before the final report is released publicly. The tribunal members included two retired Bombay High Court judges, Justice Hosbet Suresh and Justice Kolse Patil, as well as Mr. R.B.  Sreekumar, IPS, Director General of Police [Retd.] Gujarat, and Ms. Teesta Setalvad, General Secretary of Citizens For Justice and Peace, a veteran human rights activist famous for her investigation of the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Finally, the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) issued a second report in mid-May. Mr. Michael P. Pinto, the vice chairperson of the commission visited several villages in Kandhamal on April 21-24, 2008. He found that the upwardly mobile Dalit Christian facilities and homes were targeted, and there was no justification to the allegations that NGOs were attacked because they only helped Christians. He pointed out that true peace will not occur until the ring leaders behind the riots are caught and decried the fact that the state government hasn’t followed the recommendations from the first NCM report. Among other remedies, he insisted that the state government: give funds to rebuild places of worship – not only homes and institutions, investigate Hindutva leaders, establish a state minorities commission, and issue a white paper instead of condoning the claim that conversions caused the unrest. (For full report, see http://indianchristians.in/news/content/view/2094/45/)

The NCM’s first report in early January blamed the violence on Hindutva activists, a lethargic state government, and simmering caste tensions. Unfortunately, the two member team which visited on January 6-8, 2008, was unable to visit the affected villages and conducted investigative interviews in nearby cities. Created by a legislative act in 1992, the commission is tasked with protecting Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians (Parsis).