archive: In Manoharpur, Graham Staines is just a distant memory
In Manoharpur, Graham Staines is just a distant memory
Bibhuti Mishra in Bhubaneshwar
Rediff on Net
August 7, 1999
Title: In Manoharpur, Graham Staines is just a distant memory
Author: Bibhuti Mishra in Bhubaneshwar
Publication: Rediff on Net
Date: August 7, 1999
An early morning shower had left the village main street sodden and an
overcast sky gave the place a rather gloomy and sleepy look. It was
difficult to believe that this nondescript and peaceful village of
Manoharpur had witnessed one of the most ghastly crimes in recent
years -- the Graham Staines murder -- just a little over six months
ago on January 22.
The Wadhwa Commission that probed into the gruesome murder of the
Australian missionary had submitted its report to the central
government, which made it public only on Thursday. The people of
Manoharpur, however, are unaware of the report.
I search out Thakurdas Murmu the sarpanch who too had deposed before
the Commission. "I don't know what Wadhwa saheb has said but we've
heard that Dara Singh has been found to be the main criminal. All the
aides of Dara in the surrounding villages have gone underground,''
Murmu said.
By now innocent-looking tribals have gathered around this
correspondent in front of the ramshackle church that was also the site
of the crime. I manage to identify one eyewitness, Raghunath Dehuri,
who says, "We had heard cries of 'Jai Bajrangbali' but how can we say
whether those who shouting the slogans were from any organisation?"
On queried whether Dara and associates worked for any religious
organisation, Pradeep Mishra, a bank manager in Konjhar, is evasive.
Instead he digresses on the Commission's report on Staines' character:
''Who says he was a good man? Ask any local person. There was forcible
conversion and Dara is popular and yet to be nabbed because the local
people shield him for fighting such conversion," he fumes.
Interestingly, John Mathai of the Baptist Union Church whom I met in
Baripada totally agrees with the Commission's report of giving a clean
chit to the Hindu outfits. "We never blamed any outfit. Even Gladys
(who is away in Australia) did not blame any organisation. All of us
are quite satisfied with the report," he assures me.
When asked about his deposition before the commission, where he had
said that he had been threatened many times for conversions, Mathai
said, "I said about threats but I did not blame any particular
organisation. It could well be the work of fringe elements."
Most of the Christians in this town where Graham Staines had settled
agree with Mathai. Another key witness S K Mohanty, a police
inspector, says, "Dara has a proven criminal record and he might be
working without any specific backup though he had worked for various
parties and outfits at different times."
The proverbial shortness of public memory was manifest when most
people in Baripada showed total indifference to the Staines murder
case that had rocked the nation only in January.
Samuel Sahu, a converted Christian working in a local school, echoes
the feelings of the people here when he says, "People are hardly
bothered about the communal angle. This report about which we read in
the papers is more an indictment of the Congress and the state
government's failure. It is anti-Congress rather than anti-Hindu as
the Congress hoped it would be."
Ajit K Tripathy, the home secretary, when asked about the strictures
passed by the Commission on the state administration and the police
force, said, "I had deposed before the Commission regarding the
transfers of superintendents of police. But the Director General of
Police had admitted intelligence failure. We are yet to receive the
details of the Commission's report, about the First Information Report
being doctored and all that. We will take suitable action when we get
the details."
However, he admitted that the strictures show the Orissa police in a
poor light and that the government would have to take steps to ensure
that such events don't recur.
In Bhubaneswar people react to the Wadhwa report as yet another
embarrassment for the Congress and an indirect victory for the BJP and
while the entire issue gets politicised, there is little trace of any
sympathy for the Staines family or concern about Dara still being at
large. Mathai Marandi in Manoharpur sums it up nicely without meaning
to do so when he says, crestfallen, "Now Dara will never be found."
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