Catholic Woman Dies In Orissa Christian Refugee Camp

BARAKHAMA, ORISSA, MARCH 23, 2008 (CBCI News):

An old Catholic woman died on 19th March 2008 in the Barakhama refugee camp for want of adequate medicare.

The woman, Borili Digal, had suddenly fallen ill with fever two days ago, her son Pero Digal told Dr Dayal and Supreme Court advocate Mary Scaria who came to the camp.

The family took the women to the local government hospital where she was prescribed
some medicines. "We could not purchase the medicines," Pero Digal said. His mother died early this morning.

She was buried in a hastily made coffin by the youth in the refugee camp, and then buried in the Christian hillside cemetery about half a kilometer behind the camp.

The camp is located in a government school. Borili Digal's husband Doya Digal had died ten years ago. She is survived by three sons and 14 grandchildren.

The prohibitory orders banning outsiders from meeting the Christian refugees because of a buffalo sacrifice festival in this central Orissa village, marked a tense and troubled Holy Week in the state.

Visiting Christian priests and nuns, including National Integration Council member John Dayal who had gone to meet the bereaved family were unceremoniously ejected by the Assistant Tehsildar, a special magistrate, on orders of the sub collector. He said there was tension in the village and he had strict orders not to allow anyone inside the camp.

The posse of the Central Reserve Police had erected a barricade on the road to the camp. There was however no ban on the movements of others in the village.

The Barakhama camp has 345 Christian families whose houses were burnt on Christmas Day 2007 by a mob allegedly led by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists.

Seven churches were also destroyed in the violence in Barakhama, part of the total of more than 100 Christian churches torched by marauding mobs between 24 and 127 December last year.

Justice Basudev Panigrihi, a retired Orissa High Court judge, has been appointed the One Man Enquiry commission by the government to probe the serial arson and killings.

The Christian community is demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigations.

Even as the Barakhama refugees complain of sub-human living conditions, inadequate food and an utter absence of medical and sanitary facilities, Civil Rights Groups are trying to bring the communities together through village level meetings. Groups have also been organized to give legal aid to the affected families in the Kandhamal district.

The All India Christian Council has moved the Orissa High Court to bring relief to the victims - a humanitarian activity banned by the District collector.

The Catholic Archbishop, Raphael Cheenath, has filed a Special Leave petition in the Supreme Court of India calling for a quashing of the District Collector's orders.

By Dr John Dayal
Camp: Balliguda, near Barakhama, Kandhamal district, Orissa.