New Delhi, 19 Aug: "It was the darkest night of my life," recalls 45-year-old Mr Ravinder Nath Pradhan, who a year ago saw his house and paralysed brother being doused with petrol and burnt by a fanatic mob. Since then life has been drudgery, he says, and justice is "nowhere near".
"It was around 8 p.m. A mob of some 500 people attacked the village. My house was destroyed. Within moments they flung petrol on my wheelchair-bound younger brother and torched him. We fled for our lives," Mr Pradhan, a retired soldier, said. His peaceful village Guttergaon, in Kandhamal district, where people of all communities had been living in harmony, was scarred for ever. After the violence of 24 August 2008, his family and a group of 120 Christians were forced to flee their homes. They made their way to a relief camp at Bhubaneswar.
"We went back once in December to reap our crop. Tension still loomed large. We (minority and majority community families) used to share all our joys and sorrows. Now they say a passing hello, and enquire where you are headed and that's it," he added.
Having returned to his village now, Mr Pradhan relies on alms from the local church for survival. "We live underneath trees where we once had our own home."
Mr Pradhan is one of the thousands from the Kandhamal district in Orissa, where communal clashes had caused international outrage an year ago. The district had witnessed widespread violence following the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides at his ashram on 23 August last year.
Another victim is Mrs Kanak Rekha Nayak, 24, from Raikia village. A mother of two girls, she witnessed her husband being butchered by a mob on 25 August, 2008. "He was cut to pieces. The perpetrators went into hiding after that. But now they roam free. I see them sometimes ~ they try and avoid me now," she said, choking on her words.
With support from civil society organisation Peoples Initiative for Justice and Peace (PIJP), the two, along with Nayak's brother are in Delhi till 21 August, to try and meet home ministry and minority affairs ministry officials and put forth a plea to ensure rehabilitation and justice for the Kandhamal victims.
"We have given all into the hands of the justice system. Police and the district collector assured us that justice will be given but maybe delayed," the victims said.
According to a PIJP survey undertaken by its volunteers in Kandhamal "the state system for enforcement of law and order has broken down. Witness intimidation is rampant and the state itself seems to have surrendered ...Though there are 2,500 complaints filed with the police following the August 2008 atrocities the number of first information reports (FIRs) is only 827 and only 679 have been arrested even as 11,000 are named in the FIRs." Speaking on behalf of PIJP, human rights activist Mr Joseph Sebastian from NGO Indo Global Social Service Society said: "Rehabilitation of the displaced people is another grey area since there is no reliable data of the originally displaced people and of those who have yet to go back to their homes. We demand that a census should be prepared in a time-bound manner by 15 September and the return of the displaced should be completed by a target date."
It is pertinent to note that Home minister Mr P Chidambaram had visited the riot torn villages a couple of months ago and observed rehabilitating over 4000 families is not a difficult task for a determined state government.
Christmas and New Year celebrations had passed off peacefully and more recently even the 1st death anniversary of Laxmanananda Saraswati observed without any untoward incident established that peace had returned to the district.
Village presents picture of harmony
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RAIKOLA (KANDHAMAL): Like most other places in Kandhamal, the communal fire had scalded Raikola a few months ago. But unlike many other places,
this village, nestled among picture-postcard mountains and forests in G Udayagiri block, on Wednesday presented a canvas of calm and religious harmony
. It is refreshing in the context of the fact that gun-toting security personnel are back in the troubled district to prevent return of violence during Janmasthami festivities.
Dozens of battered houses and a completely desecrated church at Raikola village which reminds one of those days of unchecked frenzy which swept the area about a year ago. The communal chasm formed in the aftermath of senior VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati's slaying on August 23, 2008, are still evident from the camp set up by homeless church-goers on the edge of the village. But what is heartening is the restraint and tolerance members of both communities have shown in recent months with a hope to usher in peace.
"We are staying at a camp because we have not managed to rebuild our houses yet. But the reconstruction process has started and we would gradually move into our houses. Three Christian families have already shifted to their houses," said Sribasta Naik, explaining their stay in a camp. "We are not feeling insecure. They (tribal Hindus) are no longer hostile towards us. We are optimistic that old times would return in the future," added the sexagenarian, who is a Christ believer.
In Raikola, Christians outnumber Hindus. Even then they had been victims of the violence last year. "People from adjacent villages came over and attacked us," pointed out Ajay Naik (40), who is keen to resume his life as a daily wage labourer. "Most of our houses were destroyed, but no one was killed, supplemented Apasari Naik, an elderly woman.
While the church-goers are attempting to rebuild their houses, and their lives, their "opponents", the tribal Kandhs, have supported restoration of normalcy. "There is no tension. What is gone is gone. We want the good old times to return," said Subash Mahamallick, a Hindu. "I won't say that all Hindus are helping their Christian brethren, but some certainly are. After all everyone wants the village to stand united," he summed up.
RAIKOLA (KANDHAMAL): Like most other places in Kandhamal, the communal fire had scalded Raikola a few months ago. But unlike many other places,
this village, nestled among picture-postcard mountains and forests in G Udayagiri block, on Wednesday presented a canvas of calm and religious harmony
. It is refreshing in the context of the fact that gun-toting security personnel are back in the troubled district to prevent return of violence during Janmasthami festivities.
Dozens of battered houses and a completely desecrated church at Raikola village which reminds one of those days of unchecked frenzy which swept the area about a year ago. The communal chasm formed in the aftermath of senior VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati's slaying on August 23, 2008, are still evident from the camp set up by homeless church-goers on the edge of the village. But what is heartening is the restraint and tolerance members of both communities have shown in recent months with a hope to usher in peace.
"We are staying at a camp because we have not managed to rebuild our houses yet. But the reconstruction process has started and we would gradually move into our houses. Three Christian families have already shifted to their houses," said Sribasta Naik, explaining their stay in a camp. "We are not feeling insecure. They (tribal Hindus) are no longer hostile towards us. We are optimistic that old times would return in the future," added the sexagenarian, who is a Christ believer.
In Raikola, Christians outnumber Hindus. Even then they had been victims of the violence last year. "People from adjacent villages came over and attacked us," pointed out Ajay Naik (40), who is keen to resume his life as a daily wage labourer. "Most of our houses were destroyed, but no one was killed, supplemented Apasari Naik, an elderly woman.
While the church-goers are attempting to rebuild their houses, and their lives, their "opponents", the tribal Kandhs, have supported restoration of normalcy. "There is no tension. What is gone is gone. We want the good old times to return," said Subash Mahamallick, a Hindu. "I won't say that all Hindus are helping their Christian brethren, but some certainly are. After all everyone wants the village to stand united," he summed up.
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