Convicted Hindu Nationalist Legislator in India Released on Bail

Shireen Bhatia | Compass Direct News | Updated: Aug 02, 2010

Convicted Hindu Nationalist Legislator in India Released on Bail


August 3, 2010

NEW DELHI (CDN) — Less than a month after Orissa state legislator Manoj Pradhan was sentenced to seven years of prison for his part in anti-Christian mob violence in 2008, he was released on bail pending his appeal.
 
Along with fellow Hindu nationalist Prafulla Mallick, Pradhan on June 29 was convicted of causing grievous hurt and rioting in connection with the murder of a Christian, Parikhita Nayak. Justice B.P. Ray heard the petition on July 7, and the same day he granted Pradhan and Mallick bail conditional on posting bail bond of 20,000 rupees (US$430) each.
 
Pradhan and Mallick were released from jail on July 12 and await the outcome of an appeal to the Orissa High Court.  
 
Attorney Bibhu Dutta Das said that ordinary people don't get bail so easily when convicted of such crimes, and he questioned how Pradhan could be granted release just for being a legislator.
 
"It takes years for convictions in High Court," Das told Compass. "We will not sit silent. We will challenge this bail order in the [New Delhi] Supreme Court very soon."
 
The Christian community expressed shock that someone sentenced to seven years in prison would get bail within seven days of applying for it.
 
"I am very disappointed with the judiciary system," said Nayak's widow, Kanaka Rekha Nayak, who along with her two daughters has been forced into hiding because of threats against her. "I went through several life threats, but still I took my daughters for hearings whenever I was called by the court, risking my daughters' lives - certainly not for this day."
 
In addition to the bail, the court has issued a stay order on the 5,000 rupee (US$107) fine imposed on Pradhan and Mallick. Attorney Das told Compass the decision was biased, as the Lower Court Record was not even consulted beforehand.
 
"This is the normal court procedure, and it was bypassed for Pradhan," he said. "The judgment was pre-determined."
 
Dibakar Parichha of the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Catholic Archdiocese told Compass, "Sometimes the judicial system seems mockery to me. One court convicts him, and another one grants him bail."
 
The rulings are demoralizing to those who look toward the courts for justice, he said.
 
"There is a very powerful force behind this. It is not as simple as it looks," Parichha said.
 
Dr. John Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council, said he was surprised by the orders.
 
"While it is a legal right for anybody to get bail, it is surprising that Pradhan was wanted in so many cases, and he can coerce and influence witnesses," Dayal said. "His petition should not have been granted."
 
The two Hindu nationalists were convicted by the Phulbani Fast Track Sessions Court I Judge Sobhan Kumar Das. Pradhan, member of the state Legislative Assembly (MLA) from G. Udayagiri, Kandhamal for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), filed a petition stating that his name was not mentioned in the original First Information Report filed by Kanaka Rekha Nayak, but that he was dragged into the case later.
 
The bail order includes a warning to Pradhan to refrain from intimidating witnesses, stating, "The petitioner shall not threaten the witnesses examined."
 
Rekha Nayak, along with her daughters Lipsa Nayak (4 years old when her father was killed) and Amisha Nayak (then 2 years old) were eyewitnesses to the murder of her 31-year-old husband, a Dalit Christian from Tiangia, Budedipada, in Kandhamal district. He was murdered on Aug. 27, 2008.
 
Rev. Dr. Richard Howell, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India, urged the Christian community to keep hope.
 
"The case is still on, not that it has come to an end," he said. "There is a move that is being made to take the case further."
 
Attorney Das has said he plans to appeal Pradhan's sentence of seven years, in hopes of increasing it to life imprisonment.
 
Cases
Pradhan, who denies any wrongdoing, has been charged in 14 cases related to the August-September 2008 anti-Christian attacks. In seven of the cases he has been acquitted, he was convicted of "grievous hurt" in the Nayak case, and six more are pending against him.
 
Of the 14 cases in which he faces charges, seven involve murder; of those murder cases, he has been acquitted in three.
 
Cases have been filed against Pradhan for rioting, rioting with deadly weapons, unlawful assembly, causing disappearance of evidence of offense, murder, wrongfully restraining someone, wrongful confinement, mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy houses, voluntarily causing grievous hurt and voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means.
 
Pradhan was also accused of setting fire to houses of people belonging to the minority Christian community.
 
The Times of India reported Pradhan as "one of the close disciples" of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council) leader Swami Laxamananda Saraswati, whose assassination on Aug. 23, 2008, touched off the anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal and other parts of Orissa.
 
Rekha Nayak filed a complaint and a case was registered against Mallick and others for murder, destroying evidence, rioting and unlawful assembly. Pradhan was arrested on Oct. 16, 2008, from Berhampur, and in December 2009 he obtained bail from the Orissa High Court.
 
Despite his role in the attacks, Pradhan - campaigning from jail - was the only BJP candidate elected from the G. Udayagiri constituency in the 2009 Assembly elections from Kandhamal district.
 
In recent court actions, Fast Track Court-II Additional Sessions Judge Chittaranjan Das on July 21 acquitted nine persons who had been arrested in the Tikabali area for various offenses, including arson, due to "lack of evidence." The main charge against them was torching of a church on Aug. 28, 2008 at Beladevi village.
 
At least 132 persons have been convicted in different cases related to the 2008 violence in Orissa's Kandhamal district, state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said on July 19. Patnaik said that 24 members of the Hindu extremist Bajrang Dal (Youth Wing of World Hindu Council) and VHP have been arrested and jailed.
 
Revenue and Disaster Management minister S.N. Patro said on July 21 that the 55 Christian places of worship were damaged in Tikabali block; 44 in G. Udaygiri; 39 in Raikia; 34 in K. Nuagaon; 19 in Baliguda; 16 in Daringbadi; nine in Phulbani; six in Kotgarh; five in Tumudibandha; and one each in Phiringia and Chakapada blocks.

Copyright 2010 Compass Direct News. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Convicted Hindu Nationalist Legislator in India Released on Bail