BHUBANESWAR: A national people’s tribunal, which conducted public hearing on the infamous 2008 Kandhamal riots on Friday, said the criminal justice system had been rendered ineffective in protecting the victims, survivors and witnesses besides delivering justice and fixing accountability for crimes perpetrated on the minorities.The tribunal alleged that complicity of the police and their collusion with perpetrators during investigation and prosecution indicate that there exists an institutional bias against Christian adivasi and Dalit community. “Victims and witnesses engaged have been threatened and intimidated as there is no safe passage to and from the courts. Guidelines on witness protection, issued by the Supreme Court, are not followed by the Fast Track courts,” the tribunal’s report, which was released here on Friday, said.The tribunal recommended that compensation packages for the riot victims must be on a par with those given for the 1984 Sikh and 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat. It also sought a review of the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act as well as a fresh definition of Scheduled Caste in the contemporary context.At the People’s Convention for Justice, Peace and Secularism, where the report of the tribunal was made public, Justice (Retd) M F Saldanha said had the judicial system taken correctional measures and stood up for the victims, half the violence that happened would not have occurred.“Getting justice is becoming more difficult in India,” he said. Although the Constitution mandates protection of life, property and fundamental rights as basic duty of both the State and Centre, Justice Saldanha said Odisha as well as the Union Government failed in their responsibilities.“The State of Odisha should be listed as accused No. 1 and Government of India as accused No. 2,” he said. The former Judge of the Karnataka High Court said institution of official commissions of inquiry will not help the cause since such investigating bodies are a disaster.Taking a swipe at the judicial commissions, Justice Saldanha said such commissions, barring a few, take no less than three to five years by which the issue dies down. Since these commissions are state-financed, their report suit the governments, he added.Appointed a commission of inquiry, a retired judge in Karnataka bled the State at least Rs 11 crore while the report he churned out, at best, deserved the dustbin. Among others, Ram Puniyani, Vrinda Grover, Miloon Kothari, Debi Prasanna Patnaik and Sukumar Muralidharan spoke.
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