ASIA/INDIA - A Catholic killed in Orissa accused of witchcraft

Bhubaneswar (Agenzia Fides) - A group of Hindu men killed a Catholic of the Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, in Orissa, accusing him of practicing "witchcraft". As reported to Fides by the local Church, the accusation is denied by the victim’s family and the tension in the country is very high. According to preliminary reports of the facts, in the late evening of March 3, Goresa Mallick, about 50 years old, of the village of Salimagocha, had attended a meeting with 16 Hindu villagers nearby. After drinking together, the group was returning home. At a certain point, the 16 men attacked Mallick, they cut his neck and then burned the body in the forest. The next day, the family found out what had happened, and reported everything to the police. According to investigators, who captured the alleged killers and are continuing the investigation, the reason of the crime is "witchcraft".
Mallick had a wife and three children who deny his involvement in esoteric practices. Speaking to Fides, Fr. Jeebanta Nayak, vice-pastor in the Church of St. Anthony of Padua, condemned Mallick’s murder, saying that the man had converted to Catholicism five months before and had never practiced witchcraft. The killers, Fr. Nayak continued, "are illiterate and strongly believe in superstition," recalling that in the past, there were at least three episodes of people killed on false charges of witchcraft. Fr. Nayak, excluding a role in the murder on behalf of Hindu extremists, notes: "The Church, society and the government should exercise more responsibility in educating the villagers in order to give precedence to reason over superstition". (SD-PA) (Agenzia Fides 09/03/2012)