Orissa’s inaction a violation: Patil
“Demand growing for President’s rule”
NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Saturday hinted that the Centre might have to invoke Article 356 of the Constitution to impose President’s Rule in Orissa if the continued violence in the State was not brought under control.
In an interview to a private television channel, Mr. Patil termed the “inaction” of the Orissa government in controlling the violence a “violation of the Constitution” and said “there is a growing demand for President’s rule if the situation worsens.”
Noting that police forces and helicopters had been provided to control the situation, he said the Centre was unhappy with the Orissa government’s lack of action. Six warnings sent
The Centre had already sent six warnings to the State government and “merely continuing to ask for additional forces after every few days cannot be a solution. The State government has to implement [an] overall strategy for creating [an] environment of security,” he added.
The Bharatiya Janata Party was quick to react. Senior leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said while violence anywhere was condemnable, the United Progressive Alliance government did nothing when there were violent incidents in Nandigram in West Bengal and an agitation against Hindi-speaking people in Assam led to the cold-blooded murder of some people. Why did not Mr. Patil then think about imposing President’s Rule in those States?
The violence in Orissa began on August 23 following the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad activist Lakshmanananda, who was aggressively pursuing the VHP’s re-conversion programme, ghar vapasi (homecoming). Since then hundreds of Christian homes have been set on fire and thousands have fled their villages and taken shelter in forests or relief camps.I can identify men who raped me: nun
PTI reports:
While demanding justice, a nun who was raped in Kandhamal district has claimed that she can identify the culprits.
The nun said she was dragged by the hair by men from a Hindu household where she was hiding. “...Two men were holding my hand, one raped me,” she told CNN-IBN from an ‘undisclosed location.’
She demanded justice not only for herself “but for the sake of the people I was working with.” The nun appealed to the State government to ensure protection to the people of Kandhamal and said the situation had been bad for far too long.
Blaming the police for inaction, the nun claimed that when she and others were being taken towards a market, the policemen present there failed to protect them. “... they were sitting like stones. They did not talk or move,” she said.
Speaking to NDTV, the nun said: “I asked the police for help but they just looked on. Those who were mute spectators should also be punished.”
She has left Orissa and is not sure whether she will return to Kandhamal
Showing posts with label anti christian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anti christian. Show all posts
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Government sponsored in Atrocities India (Orissa )
unopened white envelopes, soiled and crumpled, with the acknowledgement due slip affixed, addressed to the officer-in-charge, Baliguda police station, Kandhamal district, with a scribbled noting by the postman that reads: “Address refused. Have returned back.”
In them are two written complaints, the first by Ravindra Pradhan (35) on the killing of his physically challenged brother, Roshanand Pradhan, by a Hindutva mob on the night of August 24, and the second by his niece, Ashwini Pradhan, on the burning of her house by the same mob.
Sent to the OIC of the Baliguda police station by registered post, it was refused by him and returned to them by post. Both letters mention the names of those who committed the crimes. The incident took place at Rupagaon village in the Baliguda sub-division. “When we heard the attackers entering, we ran around 200 metres to the nearby field, but my brother being a cripple could not run. I saw the incident with my own eyes, and mentioned the names of those responsible in my complaint,” Mr. Pradhan told. He is now in a relief camp run by the Young Men’s Christian Association in Bhubaneswar with 12 members of his family. He said his brother told the family to run and not worry about his safety as the attackers, who were from the same village, knew him and would not attack a physically challenged person.
“We brought this to the notice of the Governor when he came to the relief camp, but we have heard nothing further. We have not even been able to go back to the village to perform the last rites for my brother,” said Motilal Pradhan, father of Ashwini and serving army jawan, who has fought in Kargil. All 38 Christian homes in the village were burnt, but not before they were looted of valuables by the mob.
This is one of the four specific incidents of violence in Kandhamal that was brought to the notice of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday by a fact-finding team comprising P.C. Thomas, Member of Parliament, and V. Surendran Pillai, Member of the Kerala Assembly, both of the Kerala Congress (Joseph).
The other incidents that the delegation has asked the Chief Minister to act on with the utmost urgency, Mr. Thomas told , the killing of RSS leader Lakshmanananda Saraswathi on August 23, the rape of a nun and attack on a priest at Nuagaon village on August 25, and the murder of Divyalochan Digan, a pastor, on August 25. In the last case, the attackers came to the house of the pastor after they had killed him, and, after informing his wife Pushpanjali and their 11-year-old daughter, Mona Lisa, of the murder, proceeded to douse them with kerosene to set them alight. On the pleading of the distraught family, they let them off, but burnt the house.
What is common in three of the four incidents is that there are eyewitnesses ready to give evidence on the precise identity of the killers. “The Chief Minister told us that a few persons have been arrested in connection with Lakshmanananda Saraswathi’s murder. A whole community is in the dock for his murder, and it is imperative that the killers be apprehended if the violence is to stop,” Mr. Thomas said.
“We also told him that the middle level leaders who are giving leadership to the atrocities in Kandhamal must be arrested,” he said.
The team was not able to go to Kandhamal because the district was now curfew-bound. “The Chief Minister promised that he would take immediate action on all four cases. If nothing is done, then I will raise it in the next session of the Lok Sabha,” Mr. Thomas said. He said his party had already demanded of the Prime Minister that a Central Bureau of Investigation probe be ordered into the Kandhamal violence. He has also formally asked the Speaker to constitute a parliamentary delegation to visit Kandhamal. Police assurance
State Director-General of Police Manmohan Praharaj told that anyone who left his home on being affected by the communal violence and was living elsewhere could send his complaint by post to the Kandhamal Superintendent of Police.
The Kandhamal police would verify the matter and if a case was made out a formal case would be registered in the police station concerned, Mr. Praharaj said.
If it was found that a case had already been registered on the basis of a complaint filed by any of the relatives of the persons sending their complaints by post, they would be informed of it by the Kandhamal police, the DGP added.
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In them are two written complaints, the first by Ravindra Pradhan (35) on the killing of his physically challenged brother, Roshanand Pradhan, by a Hindutva mob on the night of August 24, and the second by his niece, Ashwini Pradhan, on the burning of her house by the same mob.
Sent to the OIC of the Baliguda police station by registered post, it was refused by him and returned to them by post. Both letters mention the names of those who committed the crimes. The incident took place at Rupagaon village in the Baliguda sub-division. “When we heard the attackers entering, we ran around 200 metres to the nearby field, but my brother being a cripple could not run. I saw the incident with my own eyes, and mentioned the names of those responsible in my complaint,” Mr. Pradhan told. He is now in a relief camp run by the Young Men’s Christian Association in Bhubaneswar with 12 members of his family. He said his brother told the family to run and not worry about his safety as the attackers, who were from the same village, knew him and would not attack a physically challenged person.
“We brought this to the notice of the Governor when he came to the relief camp, but we have heard nothing further. We have not even been able to go back to the village to perform the last rites for my brother,” said Motilal Pradhan, father of Ashwini and serving army jawan, who has fought in Kargil. All 38 Christian homes in the village were burnt, but not before they were looted of valuables by the mob.
This is one of the four specific incidents of violence in Kandhamal that was brought to the notice of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday by a fact-finding team comprising P.C. Thomas, Member of Parliament, and V. Surendran Pillai, Member of the Kerala Assembly, both of the Kerala Congress (Joseph).
The other incidents that the delegation has asked the Chief Minister to act on with the utmost urgency, Mr. Thomas told , the killing of RSS leader Lakshmanananda Saraswathi on August 23, the rape of a nun and attack on a priest at Nuagaon village on August 25, and the murder of Divyalochan Digan, a pastor, on August 25. In the last case, the attackers came to the house of the pastor after they had killed him, and, after informing his wife Pushpanjali and their 11-year-old daughter, Mona Lisa, of the murder, proceeded to douse them with kerosene to set them alight. On the pleading of the distraught family, they let them off, but burnt the house.
What is common in three of the four incidents is that there are eyewitnesses ready to give evidence on the precise identity of the killers. “The Chief Minister told us that a few persons have been arrested in connection with Lakshmanananda Saraswathi’s murder. A whole community is in the dock for his murder, and it is imperative that the killers be apprehended if the violence is to stop,” Mr. Thomas said.
“We also told him that the middle level leaders who are giving leadership to the atrocities in Kandhamal must be arrested,” he said.
The team was not able to go to Kandhamal because the district was now curfew-bound. “The Chief Minister promised that he would take immediate action on all four cases. If nothing is done, then I will raise it in the next session of the Lok Sabha,” Mr. Thomas said. He said his party had already demanded of the Prime Minister that a Central Bureau of Investigation probe be ordered into the Kandhamal violence. He has also formally asked the Speaker to constitute a parliamentary delegation to visit Kandhamal. Police assurance
State Director-General of Police Manmohan Praharaj told that anyone who left his home on being affected by the communal violence and was living elsewhere could send his complaint by post to the Kandhamal Superintendent of Police.
The Kandhamal police would verify the matter and if a case was made out a formal case would be registered in the police station concerned, Mr. Praharaj said.
If it was found that a case had already been registered on the basis of a complaint filed by any of the relatives of the persons sending their complaints by post, they would be informed of it by the Kandhamal police, the DGP added.
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