ICC Note:
A report on India’s worst case of anti-Christian violence is set to be released in December. The report will be the result of an in-depth investigation into the sequence of events that led to the 2008 Orissa Riots. These riots remain the worst instance of anti-Christian violence in India’s history. As many as 50,000 were displaced by the violence and many Christian had their homes and places of worship destroyed by mobs of enraged Hindus.
11/4/2015 India (ICN) – A Commission of Inquiry on the anti-Christian violence that took place in 2008 in the district of Kandhamal, in Orissa, has finally concluded its work and hearings on October 30 and is preparing to publish a detailed report on the investigation, which will be released at the end of December and presented to the government of Orissa.
Judge AS Naidu, head of the Commission, remarked that: “because of the lack of cooperation of many stakeholders, including the government, it took almost seven years to finish the investigation.”
The Commission’s main task was to study the sequence of events and circumstances that led to the killing of Hindu leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati on August 23, 2008 and the following wave of violence. The Commission received almost 700 sworn statements. On 1 July 2009, the Commission presented an interim report to the government, recommending appropriate measures to prevent new outbreaks of violence in Kandhamal.
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