Court admits church’s plea for compensation to Orissa victims

Monday, 23rd February 2009
By Vishal Arora

New Delhi: India’s Supreme Court today accepted a petition filed by the Catholic Church for adequate compensation to and rehabilitation of those who suffered in the country’s worst-ever spate of anti-Christian attacks in the eastern state of Orissa in August and September last year.

Appearing for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), former attorney general Soli Sorabjee urged the apex court to issue necessary guidelines to the Government of India to prevent communal violence besides compensating those who lost their family members, who were injured and whose houses were destroyed. Extreme Hindu nationalists launched a series of attacks on Christians and their properties following the killing of their leader, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, on August 23, 2008 in Orissa’s Kandhamal district. Blaming Christians for the murder, the extremists indulged in violence killing at least 127 people and destroying 315 villages, 4,640 houses, 252 churches and 13 educational institutions. At least 50,000 were rendered homeless. the rest