India's High Court Permits Churches To Aid Christian Victims In Orissa

As previously reported, last December six Christian churches in the Indian state of Orissa were attacked and burned by Hindu extremists. Homes were also destroyed. Yesterday's Calcutta Telegraph reports on subsequent developments. In January, after the rioting and arson, Orissa's district collector ruled that no charitable or religious organization could carry out relief work in the area, arguing that relief groups would create further tension by focusing their aid only on a particular community. The Orissa High Court refused to intervene, so the archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, Raphael Cheenath, appealed to India's Supreme Court. Yesterday in Cheenath v. Union of India & Ors., the Supreme Court overturned the ban so church groups can now assist Christian victims of the rioting and arson.