Contents
Preface 17
My Engagement with Kandhamal
Part I What happened in Kandhamal?
1 Funeral procession triggers anarchy
Funeral procession across Kandhamal
Repetition of Godhra procession
Togadia escorted to Kandhamal
Togadia’s entry banned in 2015
Church desecrated before police
Arson along funeral procession route
State government absolves itself
Lofty constitutional guarantees reduced to ashes
2 ‘National shame’
Burning bodies to deny compensation
FIR filed only if the body traced
Dead body disappears when wife goes to police
Slain Pastor’s wife intimidated
Even Hindus not spared
Targets chosen carefully
Bloodbath foretold
3 Rape as a weapon
Nun’s rape and government apathy
Government kept nun’s rape under carpet
Hindu student gang-raped, burnt alive
Hindu girl raped for uncle’s refusal to reconvert
4 Propaganda turns sheep into wolves
‘Christians killing each other’
BJP leader, Chief Minister confirm Sangh Parivar role
Demonstration for arrest of raped nun
Nun’s rape only an ‘ecclesiastical afterthought’
RSS condemns elderly nun’s rape
Christian ‘conspiracy’ behind BJD dumping BJP
BJP double-speak on Kandhamal
5 Fence eats crop 81
Police open church gate for desecration
Insensitive guardians of law
Criticise bigots, police will act
Shocking acquittal in policeman’s killing
Fast Track to justice or injustice?
Widow threatened for pursuing justice
Not guilty of crime but guilty of destroying evidence
Awaiting ‘fair and just trial’
Need for retrial like Best Bakery and SIT into Kandhamal
Part II Travesty of Justice
1 Innocents incarcerated
First batch of Swami’s ‘killers’
First catch – 13-year old boy and Pastor cousin
Branded ‘killer’ when out to buy medicine
Trip home turned him Swami’s ‘killer’
2 Travails of innocent seven
Lamb branded wolf
Unforgettable meeting between father and son
Hindu villagers vouch for Bhaskar’s innocence
Tormented families
‘Dumb’ man among seven convicts
Being popular proves costiy
Conspiracy cooked up
Harsh on the family
Charged with murder despite being away
Axe planted by police nailed him
Son threatened to trap father
Friendship with police no help
Innocents scattered
3 Baffling conviction
Swami was a ‘fundamentalist’ too
Third gun mystery – blunder or distortion by the judge?
Laurels for prosecution, witnesses
Castle built on loose sand
4 Questionable evidence
Church record fabricated ‘to prove’ conspiracy 147 Shocker for Sangh Parivar: Beticola resolution was ‘forged’
‘Missionary-Maoist conspiracy’ too falls apart
Grandiose witness plot that crumbled
Entry of fresh witnesses
Murder conspiracy ‘finalised’ on busy road
Acquittal on mobile theft charge
Bhaskar’s’Maoist’connection
Students of Sanskrit have ‘high memory power’
Delaying tactics – prosecution ploy
Long delay in reaching High Court order
Forced confession made him ‘killer’
Saffron brigade called police, Pastor became ‘killer’
Catholic lawyer among Swami’s ‘killers’
Seven innocents chained together
Lie detection test for ‘killers’ caught by saffron mob
Heavy toll on pregnant mothers, infants