Fanatical Mob Mistook Victim For Christian

07-10-2008

Sandeep Mishra Bhubaneswar: The Orissa government, already under fire for neglecting to rein in communal violence, faced further embarrassment on Saturday following revelations that a Hindu girl had been brutally raped and burnt alive by fanatics belonging to the community who presumed that she was a Christian. The girl lived in a church-run orphanage. The incident reportedly took place in Bargarh district on August 25.
The state government, drawing severe flak for reacting late to the nun rape case in Kandhamal, today admitted that two more rape-related cases had been reported from the same district.“A complaint about rape of a 22-year-old has been lodged at Tikabali police station recently. A case (No. 149/2008) has been registered and one person has been arrested in this connection,” state home secretary T.K. Mishra told reporters here.The attempt to rape case had been lodged in Phulbani Sadar police station, said the home secretary, adding that a case had been registered and investigation was on

A Christian priest claimed that Rajani Majhi, who was burnt alive during the mob violence at Padampur, had been gangraped before she was killed. The revelation, which has come just a day after the state government confirmed the rape of a nun in Kandhmal, was rubbished by the police.

When a mob attacked the orphanage, Rajani (21) tried to argue with the attackers. The mob, presuming that she was Christian, gangraped her before throwing her into the orphanage which they had set ablaze, procurator of the Sambalpur diocese T V Peter told TOI. "At about 1.30 pm on August 25, a mob entered the small orphanage and beat up Father Edward
Sequiera. Thereafter they took the girl to a room and gangraped her before burning her alive,'' he said.
Rajani was a student of Padampur Women's College and worked at the orphanage to finance her education. Soon after the carnage, the local administration cremated Rajani as per Hindu rites.
Peter said he was in Sambalpur, 135 km away, on the fateful day, but on learning about the violence rushed to Padampur on August 27. Asked why he had kept mum for so long, he said, "I had told human rights activists who had come here about it."

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