Orissa girl identifies dad’s killer| Cathnews India

Orissa girl identifies dad’s killer

Published Date: March 15, 2010

Tags: anti-christian violence, Church in Orissa, Orissa violence

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Orissa riot victims

A six-year-old girl has identified Orissa legislative assembly member Manoj Pradhan as her father’s killer during anti-Christian violence two years ago.

Lipsa Nayak and her mother were among hundreds of witnesses summoned by two fast track courts trying cases related to the attacks on Christians.

When asked by the judge if she could identify the man who murdered her father, she pointed to Pradhan, a leader of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian people’s party).

Nayak’s mother told the court her husband escaped to the forest with his family but a mob tracked him down. They demanded he denounce Christianity or face death but he kept quiet, the 25-year-old widow recalled.

“They played with him for a few hours before cutting him into pieces and dousing him with kerosene,” she said, and added that her daughters who were then aged four and two had witnessed the crime.

Defense and prosecution lawyers grilled the girl for more than 90 minutes asking her about persons she saw killing her father and the place of the crime.

“She answered all their questions without wavering,” Raj Kishore Pradhan (not related to the legislator), a lawyer assisting the prosecution, told UCA News after the March 12 hearing in Orissa’s Kandhamal district.

Pradhan, the politician, represents the G. Udayagiri constituency in the Orissa assembly. He is accused in 14 cases of arson and looting as well as nine murders during the violence.

The courts have exonerated him in several cases after witnesses turned hostile in court, allegedly under intimidation and threats.

“Here is a young girl who has mustered the courage to testify against the powerful” politician, defense lawyer Pradhan said. Her example “would encourage others to testify before the court and get justice rather than turn hostile,” he added.

Father Manoj Kumar Nayak from the same village hoped the girl’s testimony would bring justice to the victims.

The Catholic priest pointed out that the legislator was among 307 people the fast track courts have acquitted for lack of witnesses. He also told UCA News most accused are not yet arrested or brought to trial.

Source: Orissa girl, six, identifies dad’s killer (UCAN)

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