Orissa, 4 families kicked out of the village for being Christians
In a small town in the district of Kandhamal, they were prevented from accessing the well and their homes were ransacked. Some have returned to live in the forest. The Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Msgr John Barwa: "Discriminatory, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
Bhubaneswar (AsiaNews) - Four families were beaten and kicked out of their village simply because they were Christian. It happened in Ladamila, in the district of Kandhamal, the area of the Indian state of Orissa already infamous for the serious persecutions of 2008.
On September 19 - having been prevented from drawing water from the main well - the women of the group had gone to fill their containers in the paddy field. Suddenly and without any provocation from them, a group of hostile men and women stormed the houses, beat the Christians and threw away the water they had collected, making it impossible for these families to even cook or wash themselves.
Two families fled to the forest, while the other two left the village, finding refuge in the house of some relatives in a nearby village. They are Dalit families belonging to the Jesus Calls Prayer Tower, an Indian Pentecostal group. When they returned to their homes two days later, they found them destroyed and were threatened, saying that because they had become Christians they were no longer allowed to live in the village.
The legal team of the Catholic Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar led by Fr. Dibyasingh Parichha is now helping them to file a complaint with the local police station. "The families," he says, "have not yet been able to return to the village. And it is serious that some Christians are still being persecuted simply for their faith in Jesus Christ."
Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Msgr. John Barwa says "after every effort of Peace building, our Christians suffer Discriminatory and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. It is very painful and also shameful, that nothing is stopping the aggression and harassment of the Christians, It is inhuman behaviour. What can you say about people, who deny their own villagers ‘water to drink’?"
"This inhuman behavior - concludes Mgr. Barwa - must be stopped immediately and those involved in these cruel actions must be punished firmly according to the law. These episodes create insecurity and fear among people who are stigmatized and threatened only because of their faith in Jesus".
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