Stories of faith from the persecuted of Orissa

Here is the story of Abhimanyu Nayak, 44, a Christian from the village of Barapalli, Kandhamal district (Orissa), put together by Fr Ajaya Kumar Singh, general coordinator of the relief bureau, with the assistance of two nuns, Sisters Sashmi Digal and Anita Senapati.

On 27August Abhimanyu had just come back from working the fields. Around 3 pm a member of a radical Hindu group in the village of Sugada Sahi showed up at his home. In a friendly manner he invited Abhimanyu for a drink, telling him that he would sleep longer. Immediately, the Christian man did not understand what the Hindu extremist meant nor did he how he knew him.

Around noon of that same day, a crowd of 80 to 120 militants from the Hindu group Rashtriya Swam Shevaksangha (RSS) entered the village, wielding daggers, knives, arrows, rifles and cans full of kerosene and gasoline.

The group went straight to the home of the Hindu leader of Barapalli village, asking for his permission to indiscriminately attack Abhimanyu and other local Christians. Their faces masked, the hit squad was ready to go to work.

As he spoke with the RSS man Abhimanyu said that he too had been a member of the group, and that for the past two years he had worked as a domestic helper for a number of families. “I am happy with my new religion, Christianity, and I have done nothing wrong,” Abhimanyu told the man.

Shortly after, the same man attacked him and other Christians. Abhimanyu’s words had in fact triggered the Hindu fanatic’s anger. Quickly he and others snatched Abhimanyu from his home, taking him away from his young daughter to a nearby forest.

A local woman, Priyatama Nayak, said that when Abhimanyu was found later, his body showed signs of flogging all over; he had been stripped and beaten mercilessly with iron rods and axes.

Exhausted, with a broken hand, the victim begged his captors to release him. Instead they mocked him and brought him to a mango tree where he was hanged, hands and feet tied, kerosene poured on his body and set on fire. Certain that he was dead, they left him to roast. However, the flames that burnt his skin also burnt the rope that held him to the tree so he fell to the ground.

With whatever strength that was left in him and suffering from untold pain and anguish, Abhimanyu crawled home, his body a mess of bruises and wounds with burns covering 80 per cent of his body.

When his wife saw him her breath was taken away. Trying to place his head on her chest pieces of flesh simply dropped off his arms. She was so scared she dared not touch him. She felt as if a sword had pierced her heart.

Still full of hope and faith Abhimanyu gathered his family and told them to love one another and place their trust in Jesus. He also told them to leave the area.

After that he survived for a few more hours, long enough to warn the other villagers, and urge them to flee before the raving Hindu mob attacked again. In the end he could avoid the jaws of death of the fanatics.

His family was shattered. His wife almost lost her mind, repeatedly asking, “Who will take care of my children?”

Even if Abhimanyu had been able to escape the trap set by the extremists, a question remains. What did the fanatics gain from this pogrom? Local villagers and other victims are still unable to come up with an answer.

A First Information Report (FIR) was made at a Tikabali police station, but the investigation so far has had no tangible results.

Abhimanyu and his family deserve justice, but until now that appears to be a chimera.

* General Coordinator for the Relief and Rehabilitation Response Bureau in Bhubaneshwar