http://www.newindpress.com/news.asp?id=IEL20031121055648
Bajrang Dal burns effigy of Christ in
Orissa
Friday November 21 2003 16:17 IST
IANS
BHUBANESWAR: Tension has
gripped an Orissa district after members of Bajrang Dal, the group accused of
killing Australian missionary Graham Staines, burnt an effigy of Christ to
protest conversions.
Police officials said about a dozen activists of the Hindu radical group forced
their way into a local church in Tileibani in the state, brought out thousands
of religious books and burnt them.
District police chief LD Naik said they had also misbehaved with a woman.
Two cases have been registered against the 12 suspects in connection with the
incidents. All of them have been absconding since Thursday, the official said.
"Tension is mounting in Tileibani block as a result of which police
patrolling has been intensified," Naik told IANS.
Adequate security arrangements have been made around the churches located in
sensitive areas of the district, he said.
According to police officials, the Bajrang Dal activists gathered in Tileibani
on Thursday afternoon to protest conversions of Hindus to Christianity, burn the
effigy and to submit a memorandum to the district administration.
It had started last week when the activists had forced their way into a house
in Ambulpali village in Deogarh district after some local residents had
complained that three Hindu tribals in the village had converted to
Christianity last year.
A Bajrang Dal activist Dara Singh has been sentenced to death for the brutal
killing of Graham Staines and his two minor sons, who were torched while they
were sleeping in their vehicle in the state's Keonjhar district in January
1999.
Twelve of Singh's accomplices were sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime
that came amid a campaign against conversions.
http://us.rediff.com/news/2003/nov/21guj.htm
Gujarat riots - SC stays
trial in 10 cases
November
21, 2003 14:01 IST
Last
Updated: November 21, 2003 15:32 IST
Annoyed by
the manner in which Gujarat riots cases have been
progressing, the
Supreme
Court on Friday stayed the trials in 10 major cases and asked the Gujarat
government
to show cause why these cases should not be transferred to courts outside
the state.
The court
also asked the Gujarat government why a
high-powered committee of retired
judges
should not be appointed to scrutinise cases where mass acquitals have taken
place.
The order
came when SC's amicus curiae, Harish Salve, pointed out the disappointing
manner in
which trials were proceeding.
The ten
cases referred to in the court order are related to the Godhra train
carnage, the
Naroda Patiya massacre, the Gulbarga massacre, the Sardarpura
massacre
and the mass
killings at Ode when the state was enflame with communal passions.
A bench
comprising Justice V N Khare, Justice S B Sinha and Justice A R Lakshmanan
said it is
the duty of the state
government
to take effective steps to prosecute the accused and wondered "how many
times does
the Gujarat government needed to be
lectured" on this.
"If the
allegations made are true, it is a serious matter and it is a fit case for
transferring
the trials outside the state," the bench said.
Salve
pointed out how prosecutors linked with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad were
appointed by
the state government.
An
exasperated Chief Justice Khare told Additional Solicitor General Mukul Rohtagi,
who appeared
for the state government, "We thought probably the Gujarat government
is wiser now
and that is why we did not take any action till now."
Salve has demanded
that a Special Investigation Team be constituted to conduct fresh
probes into
cases where the complainants feel the real accused have been shielded by
the
administration.
