Orissa: disappointing trial outcome in anti-Christian pogrom cases
Bhuabenswar, Orissa (AsiaNews) – A special court in Kandhamal District (Orissa) convicted last Saturday 12 people and acquitted an additional 46 on charges relating to an anti-Christian pogrom that swept the state in August 2008. The court ruled on six different cases relating to house burning and murder during a communal riot.
Judge S K Das sentenced two people to two years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,000 each, for their involvement in a house-burning incident in Gresingia village in G Udaygiri area. He acquitted 21 other people charged in the case.
Similarly, seven people received a five-year prison sentence and a fine of Rs 5,000 each after they were found guilty of setting fire to houses in Sidri village, Baliguda.
Three people received a three-year sentence and a Rs 1, fine 000 each for setting fire to houses belonging to a minority community in the village of Kiramaha in the G Udaygiri area. But, in another case of house burning incident at Rudangia, 15 persons were acquitted.
The judge also acquitted ten people in another murder and house burning case for lack of evidence.
“We could not get the results we expected in these cases,” Fr Dibakar Parichha, director of legal cases coordination team, told AsiaNews. “There could have been more convictions and imprisonment. However, because of the shoddy investigations of the police and non-cooperation of witnesses during the trial period, the cases became a bit weak.”
In some families, members quarrelled over government money instead of amicably sharing it. Thus, some witnesses did not cooperate with the legal team. This is why some of the accused were acquitted, Fr Parichha said.
Nevertheless, despite such shortcomings, the fact that some people were actually convicted for their crimes has given people some confidence that they have access to some form of justice, lawyer Samar Sen said.
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