Home Persecution News Persecution Watch July 01, 2010
Persecution Watch July 01, 2010 PDF Print E-mail

Manoj Pradhan: Bharatiya Janata Party legistator sent to jail

In a major blow to the BJP, a party legislator was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment by a fast track court on June 29 for murder during the anti-Christian riots in Kandhamal district of Orissa in 2008.

The first tract court I Judge S.K Das convicted G Udayagiri MLA Manoj Pradhan, along with his accomplice, Prafulla Mallick, of murdering Parikhit Digal, a Christian resident of Barepanga village on August 27, 2008. The convicts were taken to jail within hours after the announcement.

Ramesh Mohanty, Pradhan’s lawyer was reported as saying that the court found Pradhan guilty under Section 326, 147, 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means, rioting and unlawful assembly respectively. Police had earlier registered a case against Pradhan under IPC section 302 (murder) as well.

Pradhan, a close disciple of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, earlier acquitted in seven cases relating to the Kandhamal riots, is still being tried in seven other cases including three relating to murder. He contested from inside the jail, where he was lodged after being arrested from Berhampur in December 2008. He was granted bail in December 2009 and has since been attending assembly proceedings.

The BJP MLA was reported as saying he would appeal against the verdict before he was taken to Phulbani jail. "The people of my constituency know what I am. I have full faith in the judiciary."

The murdered of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati on August 23, 2008 had sparked off large scale violence against the Christians in Kandhamal and other parts of Orissa. The Maoists claimed responsibility for the murder of the Hindu leader.

Rev. Dr. Richard Howell
General Secretary
Evangelical Fellowship of India
New Delhi
 

Verse of the Day

Psalm 18:1-2
“[The LORD Praised for Giving Deliverance.] For the choir director. A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD, who spoke to the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said, “I love You, O LORD, my strength.” The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

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