Andhra Pradesh Christians Demand New Anti-Violence Law And Compensation
On 2008-10-24
HYDERABAD, India (UCAN) -- About 10,000 Christians in Andhra Pradesh state have applauded calls for new legislation that would help prevent attacks on religious minorities and compensate the victims of such attacks.
At a meeting following a three-kilometer peace march on Oct. 19 in the state capital Hyderabad, 1,500 kilometers south of New Delhi, they clapped to show they agree that the state government should be pressed to enact such measures.
Archbishop Marampudi Joji of Hyderabad urged all attending the gathering to pursue Christian principles of peace and legal actions to stop violence.
The next day, Christian leaders delivered the set of petitions that the meeting participants approved to N.D. Tiwari, the state governor.
The petitions call for a new law on "prevention of atrocities on minorities" that would force the government to pay compensation up to a million rupees (US$22,725) per death in situations involving violence against minorities. The government also would be compelled to pay compensation of 200,000-500,000 rupees per injured person, depending on the severity of the injury.
The petitions also include other demands, such as one for funds to rebuild damaged churches, schools, orphanages and homes for victims of communal violence. Another is to ban groups spreading sectarian hate, and to arrest and prosecute culprits responsible for violence against Christians and Muslims.
Yet another demand is for a high-level judicial inquiry into the recent violence against Christians and Muslims, as well as a 24-hour toll-free help line for religious minorities.
The Andhra Pradesh Federation of Churches, the All India Christian Council and other regional groups jointly organized the Oct. 19 street program to show solidarity with victims of anti-Christian violence in various parts of India.
The Scheduled Castes and Tribes Act, a law enacted in 1989 to protect tribal people and lower castes, was designed to punish all who verbally or physically offend or attack such people in India. Tribal and lower-caste people accounted for nearly one-fourth of the country's population in the 2001 census.
However, several speakers at the meeting demanded an entirely new law to protect Christians and other religious minorities from Hindu radical forces.
During the public meeting, Joseph D'Souza, president of the All India Christian Council, presented a summary of recent incidents of violence against Christians, especially in Orissa state, northeast of Andhra Pradesh.
The violence that began there on Aug. 24 and lasted for seven weeks claimed at least 58 lives. In Kandhamal district, the most affected area, Hindu fanatics destroyed 4,500 houses and more than 100 churches, houses of prayer and Christian institutions. About 50,000 people had to flee their homes.
The speakers also condemned attacks on Christians in other states, including Karnataka in southern India and Madhya Pradesh in central India.
Most speakers noted that Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa report anti-Christian violence regularly. Those states are ruled by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian people's party). BJP is considered the political arm of groups whose goal is to make India a theocratic nation.
Bal Reddy, a Catholic leader, told UCA News the rally and meeting were "a show of strength" and unity by Christians in the city. Reddy, president of the Catholic Samakya (unity) association in the state, said the event helped generate a sense of responsibility toward suffering fellow Christians.
James Sylvester, general secretary of the Catholic Association of Hyderabad, told UCA News the program helped educate local Christians about the challenges they face. The Catholic leader said his association would develop protests in parishes until the authorities deal with problems confronting Christians.END
Article printed from Union of Catholic Asian News: http://www.ucanews.com
URL to article: http://www.ucanews.com/2008/10/24/andhra-pradesh-christians-demand-new-anti-violence-law-and-compensation/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Priest's Mutilated Body Discovered In Andhra Pradesh, Church Shocked
HYDERABAD, India (UCAN) -- The mutilated body of a Catholic priest was found on Aug. 17 on a deserted road in southern India's Andhra Pradesh state.
Father Thomas Pandipally, 37, a Carmelite of Mary Immaculate (CMI) priest who was murdered Aug. 16-17 night.
The body of Father Thomas Pandipally, 37, a Carmelite of Mary Immaculate (CMI) priest, lay near Yellareddy town, 325 kilometers northwest of Hyderabad, the state capital, about 1,500 kilometers south of New Delhi.
His provincial superior, Father Alex Thannippara, told UCA News on Aug. 18 that the murder took place during the night of Aug. 16-17.
Father Pandipally had been pastor of Jeevadhan (gift of life) Church and vice-principal of a Church-run high school, both in Yellareddy.
According to the provincial, Father Pandipally was returning home on Aug. 16 evening after offering Mass in Burgiga, a mission station 25 kilometers from Yellareddy. He stopped at a Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC) convent at Lingampet for dinner and left around 9:45 p.m. His body was found the next morning halfway to Yellareddy, 15 kilometers from Lingampet.
Father Thannippara said 18 stab wounds on the priest's body reveal that he tried to block his attackers. "His palms had several cuts. He was pulled down from his motorbike and taken to a small bridge near the road," he explained.
Father Thannippara also noted that severe wounds on his confrere's head had caused Father Pandipally's death. "His body was left in the middle of the road," the provincial added. "His motorcycle was found seven kilometers away from the body. The assailants probably drove it and left it."
The FCC sisters drove past the body while going for Mass at the parish on Sunday morning. Father Thannippara said they did not stop because they did not recognize it, but after learning that the priest and his bike were missing and his room was locked, they went back and identified his body.
The police came with a dog squad and forensic experts, but heavy rain the night before had washed away all clues, Father Thannippara also said. He added that police have no clue as to the murderers, but he suspects two groups.
The Church school, he said, has been doing quite well in a town where several private schools struggle to get students, so "they may have a grudge against us." He also suspects some villagers against whom the FCC sisters filed a police case after they opposed the nuns' setting up an AIDS center. He said the accused villagers threatened the nuns in an attempt to get them to withdraw the case, and damaged a Sacred Heart statue in the convent.
Father George Moolayil, in charge of education for the CMI province in the state, told UCA News that when he inspected Father Pandipally's corpse, he found "the entire body had turned blue from severe battering," and one eye was pierced and several limbs were broken.
Father Moolayil insists that the murder was meticulously planned because the deceased priest received a call on his cell phone just before leaving the convent in Lingampet. According to Father Moolayil, the caller wanted to know if Father Pandipally would be returning to his residence.
Also on Aug. 17, some nuns in Yellareddy received a call asking about Father Pandipally's whereabouts. When a nun replied that the priest had met with an accident, the caller wanted to know if it was an accident or a murder, Father Moolayil recounted. She then asked who was on the line but the caller hung up.
According to Archbishop Marampudi Joji of Hyderabad, the murder has shocked the Church in Andhra Pradesh. He told UCA News on Aug. 18 that he rushed to Yellareddy to express solidarity and encourage local Catholics. The "brutal murder" will not make the archdiocese close the parish, he said, because such incidents cannot frighten the Church, but he plans to meet state authorities to demand justice.
Father Pandipally worked in Yellareddy for three years after his ordination in 2002 and returned there two years ago.
Source: http://www.ucanews.com/2008/08/18/priests-mutilated-body-discovered-in-andhra-pradesh-church-shocked/
Post a Comment