The WIRE interview with Anto Akkara - 10 Years of Kandhamal Riots 7 Innocents Have Been Convicted https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-88zrDdBIGw Sep 19, 2018 interview that delves deep into Hindu nationalist Kandhamal Fraud & Travesty of Justice
Innocents Imprisoned' - Kandhamal's Travesty of Justice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VkMRNX6r7s
Aug 24, 2018
A documentary on the HINDU NATIONALIST FRAUD & TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE in KANDHAMAL jungles (of Odisha state in India) with SEVEN INNOCENT CHRISTIANS including a MENTALLY CHALLENGED ILLITERATE languishing in jail for nearly 10 years due to the subversion of the judicial system. Speak up for these VOICELESS by SIGNING the online petition for their release at WWW.RELEASE7INNOCENTS.COM
Scripted & directed by journalist ANTO AKKARA who has been pursuing TRUTH & JUSTICE for a VOICELESS PEOPLE for a decade. This documentary - visual presentation of the investigative book ‘WHO KILLED SWAMI LAXMANANANDA?’ - was launched on August 23, 2018 in New Delhi on the 10th anniversary of Kandhamal.
https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/2/16984/My-Joy-Has-No-Words-Kandhamal-Accused Gornath Chalanseth, one of the seven innocent Christians languishing in jail for a decade in Kandhamal district of Odisha walked to freedom May 20 on the bail granted by the Supreme Court.
Gornath along with six others: Bhaskar Sunamajhi, Bijay Sanseth, Buddhadev Nayak, Durjo Sunamajhi, Sanatan Badamajhi and mentally challenged Munda Badamajhi had been convicted to life imprisonment by a third judge in 2013.
The shocking conviction came after two judges had been transferred, for the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati in Kandhamal on August 23 2008. The murder of the Hindu religious leader in Kandhamal triggered unprecedented violence that lasted four months and claimed nearly 100 lives and rendered more than 56,000 homeless.
Despite being excited over his freedom from captivity of a decade, Gornath told journalist author Anto Akkara who was there to witness the occasion with a twinge of sadness: “I am happy with my freedom but there are other innocents in jail. Six of Kandhamal’s innocents are also in jail.”
https://mattersindia.com/2021/08/kandhamal-survivors-mourn-death-of-innocents-wife/
Kandhamal survivors mourn death of “innocent’s” wife By: Purushottam Nayak On: August 20, 2021 Gumili, wife of Durjo Sunamajhi, one of the seven people accused of murdering a Hindu ascetic, died August 19 in a hospital in Berhampur where she was admitted with fever two days ago. She was 50.
Swami Laxmananand Saraswati was shot dead on August 23, 2008, as Hindu celebrated Janmashtami, the birthday of their Lord Krishna. It triggered unprecedented violence against Christians that lasted for several months.
Anto Akkara, a veteran journalist who campaigns for justice of “the seven innocents,” expressed sadness that Gumili could not live to see the final verdict that he said would acquit her husband and other six “innocents.”
According to Akkara, Durjo’s case is unique because he was on a train journey to Kerala with his nephew and others for a job when the Hindu ascetic was killed.