Catholic Priest, Father Bernard succumbed to his injuries after suffering for two months in three different Hospitals. Fr. Bernard was attacked during the anti-Christian violence in the month of August in the Kandhamal district of Orissa. His death was reported at Chennai today.
According to our sources, Rev. Harichandra, PRO of AICC, Orissa reported that Fr. Bernard was attacked in Kandhamal last August. Fr. Bernard’s jeep was burned and he was brutally beaten and left in the open field. He was initially taken to the local hospital in Bhubaneshwor, then to Mumbai and later to Chennai.
The Orissa government says the anti-Christian violence has ended, but locals tell us the reason for that is there are no Christians left in the Christian villages and most christian homes and churches have already been burned.
15000 Christian refugees are now in relief camps and 40,000 are hiding in the forests, refusing to return to their homes and villages for fear of being attacked and killed or being forced to convert to Hinduism.
Orissa has a Freedom of Religion law which bans conversion, but conversion to Hinduism is not considered a crime even in the case of force and fraudulent conversion carried out by the Hindutva brigades.