By Verghese V Joseph –
Bengaluru: The seven innocent Christian victims of Kandhamal jungles of eastern Indian state of Odisha, who are out on bail after languishing in jail for 10 years, were presented at the 34th Plenary Assembly of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) in Bengaluru on Monday.
With a powerful multi-media presentation to the CBCI assembly, senior journalist and author Anto Akkara who completed silver jubilee of his visit to Kandhamal in December in 2018 illustrated why seven innocent Christians – six of them illiterates including one of them mentally challenged – stood as witnesses of faith despite challenges on several fronts.
Anto urged the bishops to do more to help the Kandhamal community to regain their livelihood and help them grow in the faith. He sought solidarity from the bishops and said, “Faith must lead to action.”
Over the past one decade, the Archdiocese of Cuttack – Bhubaneswar has remained close to the victims, and has been the prime driving force for the legal processes to seek justice for the victims and relief for those who have suffered.
Anto elaborated on the meticulous preparation that had been made to flout the ‘Christian conspiracy’ theory even before the murder of 81-year old Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati who was shot dead in his Ashram in Kandhamal on Janmastami night (August 23rd) 2008. The death of the swami led to prosecution and killings of the Christian community in Kandhamal.
After scrutinising the shocking verdict that sentenced the seven innocent Christians to life imprisonment in 2013, the author visited the remote jungle homes of the innocents where even Hindu neighbours vouched for the innocence of their Christian ’friends’ languishing in jail.
The journalist author secretly brought the illiterate wives of the seven innocent Christians of Kandhamal to New Delhi on March 2016 to launch an online signature campaign www.release7innocents.com in the presence of host of dignitaries.
Subsequently, the shocking Kandhamal conspiracy was laid bare in May 2016 with the investigative book ‘Who Killed Swami Laxmanananda?’ That was released by late journalist Kuldip Nayar, who has also written the Foreword to the book, along with the ‘first batch of killers’ of the Swami.
The revised edition of the book was released on December 28, 2017 in New Delhi by the Kuldip Nayar along with D Raja (general secretary, CPI), Oscar Fernandes (MP, Congress party), Brinda Karat (politburo member, CPM) and John Dayal (United Christian Forum).
On January 4, the book was released in Bhubaneswar by 2016 Goldman prize (known as alternative Nobel prize for environmental action) winner, Prafulla Samantara who threw the gauntlet, ‘Is there anyone to challenge (findings of) this book?’ leading to big news stories in the Odia media exposing the Kandhamal fraud.
Following his presentation, Oswald Cardinal Gracias thanked the author for the initiative and leading the Prayer for the innocents with all the bishops standing with the Prayer card in hands and reciting the Prayer in unison.