Graham Stewart Stains, an Australian missionary devoted most part of his life in India to the cause of eradication of leprosy and rehabilitation of leprosy patients. As a missionary, he was also involved in spreading the Gospel ... He himself was not involved in conversions ... there have been instances of conflicts between Christian and non-Christian tribals evidencing growing tensions between them ... The administration was quite unconcerned and oblivious to the growing tension ...Unfortunately, some of the tribals.perceived Staines to be the person behind spread, of Christianity by converting innocent and unsuspecting tribals and the one making inroads into their culture and customs.

Dara Singh was growing in stature. He is a fanatic. He committed crimes against Muslim traders. There was no check on him. There were criminal cases pending against him and yet he was not declared as absconder ... Tribal youth looked at him with awe as if they found a Messiah in Dara Singh. They drew his attention to the conversions in Manoharpur by the Christian missionaries ... These youth are not members of anyorganisation. Dara Singh understood the psyche of the ribals. He played on their emotions and provoked their ire saying that Christian missionaries were destroying Hindu religion. He prepared them and then led the attack ...

The act of murdering Staines and his two children was inspired by Dara Singh and his clout and no authority, organisation or any other person played any role in or in connection with the killings. There is no evidence that any authority or organisation was behind the gruesome killings.

FIR registered in the case does not represent true state of affairs. It is certainly a doctored document ... there should be an independent inquiry to find out the circumstances leading to the recordirg of the FIR ...  There should be proper understanding of the provisions of the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, 1967

Comments on the Report Walter Fernandes in The Times of India, 13 August, 1999

The Wadhwa Commission report on the killing of Graham Staines says that Dara Singh acted alone and that no organisation was involved. The same statement was made in 1948. It was said that Godse had acted alone. India went into mourning and shops closed down spontaneously the day after the Mahatma's murder. The RSS claimed total innocence. Nevertheless, many of its cadres celebrated the crime. Is history repeating itself?

The Commission's counsel and its investigating team provide circumstantial evidence of Dara Singh's links with the Sangh Parivar. In seven of the eleven FIRs of communal crimes against him he is linked to the Bajrang Dal and in the rest to the BJP. The counsel's report also provides evidence that he worked for the BJP in the 1998 elections, that he was active in the gorasksha samiti and that he attacked Muslim cattle traders.

Yet, after all this, we are told that no organisation was involved in the burning alive of Staines and his two small children; that Dara Singh by himself motivated 50 persons to go to a village far from theirs to burn children to death; further that kerosene and other combustible material were procured and information obtained about the whereabouts of Staines, without support from any organisation.

Eyewitnesses testify that those involved shouted "Jai Bajrang Bali" and dispersed when a whistle was blown -an act known to be the slogan and strategy of a communal organisation. But all this and more evidence is ignored in the final report.

Many individuals ana organisations wanted the Commission to study this crime in the overall context of the communal situation in the country and of attacks on Christians during 1998. There were at least 108 recorded cases of such attacks in Gujarat alone during 1998. The year ended with tension in Karnataka. There was a major incident in Orissa itself just when the Commission was beginning its hearings. But it did not study the Staines murder within the overall national scenario. Amid this violence the Prime Minister only demanded a debate on conversions, not on the criminals behind these attacks. The Commission used clause C of its terms of reference to  discuss conversions and exonerate Christians. Under its clause B it discussed the involvement of the Sangh Parivar and exonerated it too ... This report once again brings into focus the issue of the very credibility of Commissions of Inquiry. After every police firing, communal massacre or train accident, a Commission is appointed to study its causes. Most of them do a whitewash job and present what look like doctored reports ...

Most of these reports give the official version or do not fix any responsibility. When they do fix responsibility, they are rejected. For example, the Sri Krishna Commission pinpointed responsibility and identified persons behind the pogrom in Mumbai in 1993. The Maharashtra government rejected its report ...

Farce and Commissions

... Where do we go from here? Are we to continue the farce and appoint a Commission to study all the inquiry commissions? Or will we, as citizens of this country, demand justice for the victims of these crimes and tragedies? Three ministers from the Union government spent less than an hour at the site of the Staines murder, without knowing the local language and declared it to be a foreign conspiracy. The home rninister cleared the RSS even before the inquiry could begin. The Orissa government filed FIRs against Dara. Singh but has not arrested him or declared him an absconder ...

(The author works at the Indian Social Institute) (Source: The Times of India, 13 August, 1999)