New Delhi: An eight-member fact-finding team which visited the places in Odisha where police allegedly clashed with the tribal population in late March found that a church had allegedly been desecrated, that priests and children were purportedly assaulted with lathis, and women were reportedly molested.The report claims that this is the first attack by police to have taken place on a Christian church, in Odisha.The team visited Juba village in Mohana tehsil of Gajapati district on April 9. It consisted of seven advocates and a social activist – Clara D Souza, Gitanjali Senapati, Thomas EA, Kulakant Dandasena, Sujata Jena, Anjali Nayak, Ajaya Kumar Singh and Subal Nayak.In its fact-finding report, the team said that Odisha police on March 22, raided a village allegedly on the basis of reports of cultivation of marijuana there.‘Barged into church’The report alleges that several attacks took place on that day. Around 15 police personnel allegedly barged into the Juba Church where four young Kondh Adivasi women and girls were preparing for Sunday prayers and mass for the next day. Two of them were minors aged 12 years.“The aggressive policemen broke the cleaning instruments, and desecrated the sacred space of the Church,” the report said. It said that the police’s alleged entry into the church without a warrant was in violation of Article 25, which gives the Right to Freedom of Religion, which includes the right to manage religious affairs, and is in violation of Section 298 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 – injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion.The report essays brutal violence. “Two young women belonging to Kondh tribal group were beaten with sticks within the Church and then dragged almost 300 meters away to a police bus,” it said. The minors allegedly ran to priests who resided within the compound, asking for help.A woman cook, aged 38 and belonging to Sabar tribal group, who was in the residence and had come out to the portico hearing the cries of the minor girls was allegedly also beaten badly. Her clothes were allegedly torn, the report said.It added:“It is reported that the adjacent village children, some in the arms of their mothers, were not spared. The children and women were taken in the bus to a distance and left there…a couple of mobile phones were snatched from the women, and are yet to be returned to them,” the report said, adding that these amount to several BNSS and POCSO Act violations.Also read: In Odisha, Tribal Christians Forced to Convert Religion to Bury Family Members: Fact-Finding Report‘Priests beaten’Two Catholic priests who had come out of their houses were also allegedly attacked by police. Father JG and Father DN – identified this way in the report – were reportedly dragged and beaten. “The Priests were accused of being “Pakistanis” and converting the people,” the report said.DN fractured his shoulder blades, the report said.Some policemen reportedly took Rs 40,000 from the priests’ residence.Other villagers – including a grieving widow and her minor daughter – were beaten as well, with police forcibly entering the homes of locals and damaging what they could lay their hands on, according to the report.“Approximately 20 motorcycles were destroyed, and TV sets, whole foods supplies including rice, paddy, chickens and eggs, were destroyed,” the report said.‘No action taken’The report stresses that Gajapati district is one of the lowest on the Human Development Index and ranks 27th out of 30 districts in Odisha. It is a minority concentrated district with 38% of Christians and has an above 50% tribal population. The violence hit Mohana block is one of the least developed blocks in the district and second-largest block in Odisha with 37.11% female literacy rate and 93% people living in rural areas, the report notes.No first information reports have been lodged, the report noted, 20 days since brutalities allegedly took place. “However, it is reported that complaints have also been made to the Superintendent of Police, Gajapati,”The team wrote that it believes that this is the “handiwork of some identified communally biased police personnel towards religious minorities, and/or with a casteist mindset towards tribal groups, and with no sense of human rights and dignity for children and women.”The team said it did not know of any media reports on the alleged brutalities. The report does not quote police.It made several recommendations to the state administration, asking it to identify and take stringent action against criminal elements among the police having communal and caste bias towards women, tribals and religious minorities. It asked for the immediate application of SC/ST (PoA) Act, POCSO Act, applicable sections of BNSS and Fundamental Rights enshrined in the constitution.The report has also called for recruiting police from diverse backgrounds and making them aware of laws and the necessity for respect for all religious spaces. It has also called for more cooperation from the media.
