US embassy cable - 05CALCUTTA320

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CALCUTTA 000320 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KCRM, KIRF, SOCI, CASC, IN, Human Rights 
SUBJECT: CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS CONCERNED BY MISSIONARY MURDER 
CASE IN ORISSA 
 
 
1.  (SBU)  Summary:  During CG's August 23-25 visit to Orissa, 
he met with Christian representatives to discuss developments in 
the January 1999 murder case of Australian Christian evangelist 
Graham Staines and his two sons.  CG also inquired about 
communal relations in the State.  The Christian representatives 
expressed frustration with legislation that made evangelizing 
and conversions difficult, such as the Orissa Freedom of 
Religion Act (OFRA), which requires converts to register with 
district authorities prior to conversion.  The representatives 
also objected to the legal provisions that resulted in scheduled 
caste Dalits converting to Christianity losing their protected 
status and government preferences.  The Christian leaders felt 
that communal relations had improved in the last few months, 
engendered by the more tolerant views of the national governing 
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition and a reduction in 
Christian evangelizing.   The reduction in tensions being partly 
attributable to the lessened evangelizing reflects that in 
general, religious communities in Orissa co-exist peacefully, 
but that conversion efforts can spark violence.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (SBU)  On August 25, CG met with President of the Orissa 
chapter of the All India Christian Council Reverend P.R. 
Parichha, General Secretary of the Orissa United Christian Forum 
B.K.  Muduli and High Court Lawyer Pratap Chhinchani to discuss 
recent developments in the murder case of Australian missionary 
Graham Staines and his two minor sons.  Staines ran a leprosy 
home in Orissa.  On January 22, 1999 in Manoharpur, Staines and 
his sons were burnt to death when the vehicle they were sleeping 
in was set on fire by a mob, reportedly upset with Staines' 
evangelizing in the area. 
 
3.  (U) A year later, police arrested principal suspect Dara 
Singh and 12 others, with links to rightwing Hindu groups.  A 
Sessions Court sentenced Singh to death and 11 others to life 
imprisonment.  However on May 19, 2005, the Orissa High Court 
converted Singh's death sentence to life imprisonment and 
acquitted the other 11.  The High Court held that there was no 
evidence or record to show that Singh's individual act alone 
killed Staines and his sons.  On August 16, Singh challenged his 
conviction and appealed to the Supreme Court.  The Central 
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also appealed to the Supreme Court 
on August 29, challenging the High Court's judgment reducing 
Singh's conviction to life imprisonment and urging re-imposition 
of the Sessions Court's capital punishment sentence. 
 
4.   (SBU) Parichha, Muduli and Chhinchani were concerned with 
the developments in the Singh case.  They stated that the 
reduction of Singh's punishment to a life sentence was not 
justified, because the available evidence indicated he was 
involved in the crime.  They also felt that the death sentence 
was important as a deterrent to other Hindu fundamentalists. 
 
5.  (SBU) In addition to developments in the Staines case, the 
Christian representatives were also dissatisfied with the OFRA 
or "anti-conversion law" as they characterized it.  The law 
requires converts to a religion to register with district 
authorities prior to their conversion.  The Christian 
representatives felt that this exposed converts to pressure and 
reprisals from Hindu fundamentalists, like members of the 
Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.  As an example, they 
mentioned that in May more than 500 Christian tribal converts 
had been "reconverted" to Hinduism in Bargarh district.  Echoing 
these comments, a week later the "The Asian Age" newspaper 
reported that on September 4 police in Kendrapara district 
arrested two people for assaulting and forcibly tonsuring 10 
Dalits who had converted to Christianity the previous year. 
 
6.  (SBU) The Christian representatives saw the fact that Hindu 
Dalit converts to Christianity lost their protected status and 
various preferences under the legal system as another 
discriminatory issue.  The GOI has a program of affirmative 
action and preferences for Dalits or scheduled castes that 
historically faced extreme discrimination.  However when the 
Dalits convert to Christianity, these preferences would be lost. 
 The Christian leaders noted that Dalit converts to other 
religions such as Sikhism or Buddhism would not lose these 
advantages; therefore, creating a disincentive for conversion to 
Christianity.  The Dalits and tribal communities, marginalized 
from mainstream culture and economic opportunities, have been 
the focus of Christian evangelical efforts. 
 
7.  (SBU) On a positive note, the three contacts believed that 
communal tensions in Orissa have been less in recent months. 
They felt that the improved situation was partly attributable to 
the recently elected national UPA coalition which was more 
sensitive to communal issues and that this had helped to 
minimize conflicts, even at the State level.  They also noted 
that Christian groups had reduced their level of evangelizing, 
which meant fewer reprisals by Hindu fundamentalists. 
 
8.  (SBU) Comment:  The Staines murder demonstrated how 
religious tensions in Orissa's poor rural areas can explode into 
violence.  Evangelizing in these areas serves to spark the 
tinder of resentment felt by Hindu fundamentalists and groups 
like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal.  These 
groups then attempt to counter the efforts of the Christian 
evangelists as evidenced by the regularly reported incidents of 
harassment and intimidation against converts.  The Christian 
evangelists approach of targeting the disenfranchised Dalits and 
tribal communities places them in more remote areas and 
sometimes away from the protections of law enforcement.  The 
Christian representatives conceded that overall, religious 
communities in Orissa co-exist without violence.  However, 
religious conflict arises when Christians attempt to evangelize 
in the communities in Orissa's geographic and social "Outback." 
 
 
 
JARDINE