Mr. Justice A P Shah
Former
Chairman, Law Commission of India
And
Former Chief Justice, High Court of Delhi
Will
launch the path-breaking research
KANDHAMAL
Introspection
of Initiative for Justice 2007-2015
By Vrinda Grover & Saumya
Uma
At 5 pm On Friday, 31st
March 2017
At the Deputy Speakers Hall,
Constitutional Club
Rafi Marg, New Delhi
Discussants: Supreme Court Senior Advocates
Raju Ramachandran & Rebecca Mammen John
and The Caravan Magazine Political Editor Hartosh Singh
Bal
You are cordially
invited to the Book Launch and discussion on aspects of the difficult search
for justice by victims and survivors of Communal and targeted violence
Published by Media House, New Delhi, and The United
Christian Forum
For further information, please contact
AC Michael: +91
9818155290 acmichael60@gmail.com
Ajaya Kumar Singh:
+91 9437481805 ajaysingho@gmail.com
A NOTE ON THE BOOK ON KANDHAMAL
India has seen many incidents of communal
violence targeting religious minorities. Every violence sees children and
adults killed in the most inhuman manner, women raped, and thousands rendered
homeless in mass arson. State impunity, police bigotry and insensitivity, and
shoddy or non-existent investigation have marked the post-violence scene. Relief,
rehabilitation, and the criminal justice system
has repeatedly failed the victims and survivors.
The violence in Kandhamal, in the state of
Odisha, was the Christian community’s first experience with targeted mass
violence in centuries. Human rights groups estimate that
around 100 people were killed, including disabled and elderly persons,
children, men and women.More than 600 villages were ransacked; at least 5,600 houses
were looted and burnt; at least 54,000 people were left homeless;295 churches
and other places of worship, big and small, were destroyed; 13 schools,
colleges, philanthropic institutions including leprosy homes, tuberculosis
sanatoriums, and offices of several non-profit organizations were looted,
damaged or burnt.About 30,000 people were uprooted and lived in relief camps
and continue to be displaced. During this period about 2,000 people were forced
to renounce their Christian faith. More than 10,000 children had their
education severely disrupted due to displacement and fear.There has been no
official estimate of those who suffered severe physical injuries and mental
trauma.
This book is a unique investigation of the
Justice process in targeted mass violence on this nature. Similar work has
perhaps not been done in earlier cases targeting other communities. It is a
searing indictment of the system that has failed the victim.
Vrinda Grover is
a lawyer, researcher and human rights activist based in New Delhi, India. Her research and writing probes the impunity of the
state for human rights violations particularly in areas of militarization and
conflict, and the role of law in the subordination of women. She was a Research
Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Delhi 2013-2014. She has done
seminal research on targeted communal violence including the 1984 anti Sikh
pogrom and the attack on Christians in Kandhamal in 2008. Vrinda Grover is
a prominent commentator in the media on jurisprudential issues relating to
human rights violations and violence against women.
Saumya Uma
has worked in varying capacities over the past 22 years, including as a lawyer,
law researcher, law trainer, campaigner and academician, with a specialization
in gender and human rights. She has engaged with the issue of justice for the
survivors of the violence in Kandhamal violence since 2010. She researched and
authored 'Breaking the Shackled Silence: Unheard Voices of Women from
Kandhamal', published by National Alliance of Women – Odisha chapter in August
2014, which examined the status of the women survivors six years after the
violence. She has researched and authored twelve books, edited /
co-edited books by reputed publishers such as the Oxford University Press, and
has written and published more than 45 articles on a range of issues pertaining
to human rights, violence against women and the law. She is a recipient of the
prestigious British Chevening scholarship for human rights in 1998. She is
currently pursuing a Ph.D. from NLSIU, Bangalore.
Vrinda Grover and
Saumya Uma have worked together on the issue
of justice for the survivors of Kandhamal violence for the past seven
years. In 2010, Saumya Uma authored 'Kandhamal: The Law Must Change
its Course', edited by Vrinda Grover, published by Multiple Action Research
Group, New Delhi. In 2011, they worked together on 'Waiting for Justice:
A Report of National People’s Tribunal on Kandhamal' along with Vahida Nainar,
published by National Solidarity Forum, New Delhi.
