Indian Christian youths, frustrated with police, seek retaliation

Published: 2008-02-05

BARAKHAMA, India (CNS) -- Frustrated by police inaction to arrest the perpetrators of anti-Christian violence at Christmastime, some Christian youths in the Kandhamal jungles of eastern Orissa state seem to be pursuing the path of retaliation. Subrat Kumar Maji, a Catholic youth, was asked whether Indian Catholics felt sorry for setting on fire two dozen Hindu shops and houses along the wall of St. Joseph Church in Godapur. "Why should we compensate them?" he asked. "These were the people who went to Bamunigam by bus and burned our church and Christian shops," he told Catholic News Service. Two Christian youths, including the brother of a seminarian, were arrested in late January while carrying guns at night. When Cardinal Telesphore Toppo of Ranchi, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, visited St. Joseph Church Jan. 30, he saw the charred remains of Hindu shops and houses near the church. "We can never justify this kind of response," Cardinal Toppo told CNS. "This is not a witness to Christian faith."

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