The
population in the district of Keonjhar as per the Census report of the
year 1991 and also till 1998 (based on decennial growth rate) is as under
:
From the record, it appears that the motive for the crime was that there were conversions of illiterate and poor Hindu tribals to Christianity on certain premises but these conversions were not necessarily inspired by Staines. We examine the evidence in this respect : Timothy Murmu @ Chaitanya Murmu, Pastor of the Church at Manoharpur said that no force was used on anybody for conversion. He added that by becoming Christians economic conditions did not improve but persons who got converted "get inner peace and become better human beings". As to how he himself became a Christian he said he was suffering from an acute illness of fever and some incurable disease for one year. He remained bed ridden for one month, took lot of medicines and spent more than Rs.2,000/- for his treatment and yet he could not be cured. He said his wife lost all hopes and then she heard that if a Christian prays for somebody, he would get cured. His wife called some Christians to his house. He, however, continued his medicines and within one week he was cured. Then he decided to become a Christian. He also said that in his village Manoharpur most of the persons who became Christians were those who in the past suffered from incurable illness but after becoming Christians they had been cured. He gave the following instances of persons who were converted to Christianity on this account -. 1) Kebe's mother was dying from high fever and "we all prayed for her and she survived then the entire family got converted to Christianity".In his deposition before the Commission, Chaitanya Murmu stated as under .. "In the year 1980, I had a severe attack of fever. I was not admitted in any hospital. But I obtained some medicines from the Government dispensary at Thakurmunda. When we Santhalis suffer from any ailment we offer, worship and sacrifice goats, sheep and chicken. I suffered from fever for about 13 months and was not cured in spite of taking medicines and doing the above acts. While I was in a dying condition, my wife called five members of the Christian community of my village who came and prayed for my betterment in my house. Thereafter, I continued to take the same medicines which were prescribed to me earlier and was gradually cured. Since then I began believing in Christianity."Paul Murmu a Pastor who accompanies Staines from Baripada stated that subject to availability Staines also attend baptism ceremonies and marriage ceremonies of Christian families in that area. He said whenever Mr. Staines was unable to come, he would ask him to go and attend any such ceremony. He said Mr. Staines would be intimated about the programme. He allowed the vehicles to be used for the purpose. John Mathai , is a Linguist and is based at Baripada. He is working for the Indian Evangelical Mission which has its headquarters at Bangalore. He said if anybody accepts the Gospel and wants to come to the fold of Christianity, he would come to the Church leader and if the church leader considers that the person really wants to embrace Christianity, then after a few months baptism would be given to him. it is only then that a person becomes a Christian. John Mathai said that though he was engaged in spreading Gospel in the Thakurmunda area, there was no specific hostility exhibited by the villagers against the foreigners in the Jungle Camp at Baliposi. He was asked if he could say what was the motive behind this hostility exhibited at the time of jungle camp in Baliposi. His reply was that since Christianity was spreading in that area, that might be the reason for the hostility. For the area, he said that he meant Thakurmunda. In answer to another question as to what role Staines used to play during the jungle camp, he said that Staines used to arrange speakers and he himself would take Bible studies. Sometimes, if necessary, Staines also used to translate from English to Oriya. John Mathai was looking after the affairs of EMSM in the absence of Staines who went to Australia with his family for about a year. John Mathai said that EMSM was mainly involved in Leprosy Home work. It was also supporting Staines in his mission to encourage Christianity at different places. He added that by encouraging he meant if any person needed Bible teaching, Staines would arrange someone for the purpose. At times he would also give suggestions if there were problems of local church leaders. John Mathai was then asked if he could describe the motive which led to the killing of Staines and his two children. His answer was: "What I feel is that christianity is spreading in that area. One, reason to kill them might be to stop the spread of christianity and those who had already become Christians would go back to their original religion."John Mathai also said that he did not think that Staines was ever responsible for establishment of any church group in the area of Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar. He said that increase of population of Christians in Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar was on account of conversion to Christianity. This conversion, however, he said was among the Ho and Santhal tribes. He was asked if this conversion to Christianity was confined mainly to illiterate and poor people in the tribal areas of Ho and Santhal and not to the educated and well to do persons in the Districts. Answer of John Mathai was : "The conversion to christianity is mostly confined to poor and illiterate people in the tribal areas. But there are educated people also in the tribal areas who have embraced christianity. I cannot say if in any town or city any educated or well to do person has embraced christianity. There would be about 4-5 such educated persons in the tribal area who have embraced christianity."Nimai Hansda is a cultivator and resident of Manoharpur. He himself earns about Rs.5 to Rs.20/- per day. His children also collect Sal leaves, stitch and then sell them. He said he was converted to Christianity two years earlier. None of the members of his family have however. been converted to Christianity. He said he was ailing for a long time and he was cured after he embraced Christianity. He said all his family members advised him to convert to Christianity since his treatment in the Government hospital had failed. Nimai Hansda said that his understanding of Christianity "is that one goes to church regularly and gets cured". He added that after embracing Christianity, his financial condition has not 'improved. Nehemiah Tudu is from village Raika in Mayurbhanj and is a Pastor. He is a cultivator and also works as a daily labourer. He said he regularly attended the jungle camp at Raika and other jungle camps occasionally. He said that about 200 people had been converted to Christianity after he became Pastor of Raika Church and half of them had been baptised and others had only accepted the faith. As to how he himself became a Christian, He said: "When I was a Hindu, I was worshipping deities and believing the spirits of ghosts (Bhut-Pret). In spite of my best attempts, i.e., offering goats, etc., as sacrifice, I could not get rid of the fear of spirits and could not get peace. I also spent lot of money for the same. I had heard from one Champai Besra, a Pastor of Mayurbhanj that if I believed in Lord Jesus, I would be free from the fear of spirits. My brother Nathan Tudu was also having the fear of spirits and ghosts. One day he went to the house of a Christian. There, they prayed for him for half an hour thereafter his fear disappeared and he had a sound sleep at night. Next day he came to me and narrated the incident. Thereafter we started attending the church at Banki. I have been baptised."Manika Gagrai is of village Dumurdiha in District Keonjhar. He said he was born in a Hindu Family. He, his mother and his wife were suffering from fever. Sankhai Marandi, a Christian, who was known to him advised him to get converted to Christianity so that he could be cured. Manika Gagrai adopted Christianity. Sankhai Marandi also offered prayers at that time in his house. Manika Gagrai said he had not been baptised but only became a believer of Christianity and attended church regularly. He said his health became worse and he developed tuberculosis. Staines visited him after he suffered from tuberculosis and advised him to take medicines which he took from a doctor at Karanjia. He then developed blood pressure. He said that thereafter none of the Christians helped him. As he was not cured, he again got himself converted to Hinduism. That was a week before the Makar Sankranti in the year 1999. He said he got himself reconverted to Hinduism voluntarily. S.C. Bala, Deputy Superintendent of Police of the Crime Branch who investigated the case from 2nd February, 1999 till 7th April, 1999 was of the opinion that the motive of killings of Staines and his two children "appeared to be that non-Christian people were aggrieved on the ground that Christian fathers/missionaries who are converting the people to Christianity in a deceitful manner by giving allurements." Loknath Behra of the CBI stated that the crime was perpetrated by Dara Singh and his men and that investigation so far conducted revealed that Dara Singh took his accomplices for the crime by stating that "let us go and assault the Christian missionaries who have come to Manoharpur as they are indulging in conversion of innocent tribals to Christianity and are spoiling our religion and culture". Thus, the inference is : 1) Conversion was confined to poor and illiterate tribals belonging to Ho and Santhal Tribes.'Tidings' is a newsletter published from Australia by Australian Missionary Tidings. it is a monthly publication and contains "Missionary Mail" from various countries from all over the world. Despatches sent by Staines and his wife Gladys Staines were also published in each issue of the Tidings. Some of the issues of Tidings were collected by the investigating Team of the Commission from Gladys Staines. A communication was addressed by Mr. D.G R Patnalk, Secretary to the Commission, to Mr. Ralf James Cameron, President, Evangelical Missionary Society of Mayurbhanj, Australia to send to the Commission copies of 'Tidings' from January, 1996 to February, 1999 containing information relating to the Mission in Mayurbhanj. A reminder was also sent to Mr. Cameron by Mr. Patnaik on 17th May, 1999. There has, however, been no response to the fax messages sent by Mr. Patnaik. The issues of 'Tidings', which were obtained from Mrs. Staines were put to her during her statement. It will be advantageous to reproduce what has been recorded in these issues from the despatches from Staines :- "JUNE, 1997Staines in his despatches to the 'Tidings', which are on record, has made reference to militant Hindu group twice. In the issue of April, 1998 there is reference to a communication dated 22nd February, 1998 from Staines. In that he said that he had arrived from Baliposi camp a day earlier as "some people from a 'militant Hindu group' who were persecuting the Christian, came to the camp but were not able to disturb the meeting". Similarly, in the issue of July 1998 Staines wrote "We have been told that a 'militant Hindu group' plans to concentrate on Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar to win Christians back to Hinduism". Earlier in November 1997 issue Staines complained that Ho believers in Thakurmunda "still face persecution" and from time to time the village people have beaten them up, broken their bicycles and not allowed them to worship in their own church building. It is IEM which is active in Thakurmunda area and activities of EMSM are not confined to this area, This is from the statement of Gladys and also from the statement of John Mathai. Baliposi camp is organized by IEM in Thakurmunda area. In
her statement Gladys was unable to identify as to which 'militant Hindu
group' Staines made reference. However, on the basis of various intelligence
reports emanating from the police it does appear to me that reference to
'militant Hindu group' has perhaps been to the Bajrang Dal. As held
earlier, there is no evidence that Bajrang Dal is involved in the present
gruesome murder of Staines and his two little children. Moreover,
in his statement Pratap Chandra Sarangi, who is State Coordinator of Bajrang
Dal in Orissa, was categorical that re-conversion to Hinduism is not one
of the objects of Bajrang Dal. In his affidavit he had stated that Bajrang
Dal was not involved in the gruesome murder and that Dara Singh was never
a member of the Bajrang Dal. Sarangi stated that Bajrang Dal is an
independent forum associated with Vishwa Hindu Parishad. He described
the objectives and activities of the Bajrang Dal. It is not necessary
to go into that as Bajrang Dal is not an unlawful organization.
From these issues of the 'Tidings', following circumstances emerge: 1. Jungle Camps were regular features in the Districts of Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar. Jungle Camp means four days of Bible teaching, prayer and the fellowship of Christians living together. It enables believers from other churches to meet with local Christians to discuss experiences and encourage one another. Also speakers from other places broaden the vision of those whose lives have been confined to one small village. The teaching helps the church leaders to further develop material for their own regular ministry.
Back to Index Page |