Bridging divides: A priest overcomes India’s anti-Christian violence to lead interfaith dialogue
The Kandhamal riots of 2008 stand out as a watershed moment in India’s history of mass violence against minorities. PRIYADARSHINI SEN reports, in an article first published on Religion News Service, that a Catholic priest who survived them wants to bring faith leaders together to get past that history…
India’s Supreme Court orders Kandhamal Christian freed on bail after 10 years in prison
Gornath Chalanseth, one of seven Christians jailed for life for the murder of a Hindu swami in the Kandhamal district of Odisha state in eastern India, has been freed on bail by India’s Supreme Court, World Watch Monitor reports. Nearly 100 Christians were killed and 300 churches and 6,000 Christian homes damaged in the Kandhamal district after […]
Ten years after arrest of their illiterate husbands, Indian wives wait for justice
World Watch Monitor It was around midnight on 4th October, 2008, that Munda and Sanathan Badamajhi, and Durjo Sunamajhi, were arrested by dozens of police in their shanty homes in India’s eastern Odisha state. Ten years on, these three illiterate Christians, from the remote Madaguda area of Kandhamal are yet to return home. The wives of seven Indian Christians imprisoned […]
Two years after India’s Supreme Court order, no investigation into “shocking” number of Kandhamal acquittals
World Watch Monitor The man spearheading the campaign for “justice” for the victims of the worst case of anti-Christian violence in India’s history has denounced the failure of the Odisha state government to follow up on a Supreme Court order to investigate why there have been so few criminal convictions despite nearly 6,500 arrests. Almost […]
In India, Kandhamal Christians still waiting for justice one decade after massacre
World Watch Monitor Ten years after the worst case of anti-Christian violence in India’s history, the local community continues to struggle, with reparations from the government slow in coming and seven reportedly innocent Christians still in prison. Nearly 100 Christians were killed, 300 churches and 6,000 Christian homes were damaged, and 55,000 people were made […]
2017 saw 20 per cent increase in “atrocities” against Christians in India, says lawyer
World Watch Monitor Amid growing extreme Hindu nationalism in India, dozens of speakers have called for concerted action to uphold the country’s constitution and fundamental rights, at a conference to mark four years of government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “There is a grave threat to plurality,” Professor Ganesh Narayan Devy, a scholar on […]
Court orders extra payment to Christian widows of 14 who died in India riots
World Watch Monitor Following a long-fought campaign, the High Court of Odisha state in eastern India has ensured the disbursal of extra compensation awarded two years ago to dependants of 14 Christians killed in the widespread anti-Christian violence that engulfed Kandhamal district in 2008. In addition, the court has forced the Odisha Government to make […]
INDIA: 2017 “ONE OF THE MOST TRAUMATIC” FOR CHRISTIANS
ANTO AKKARA, of the World Watch Monitor, reports…