SC permits Centre to file documents in Kandhamal case

New Delhi, Oct 21 (UNI) The Supreme Court today permitted the Centre to file some additional documents in connection with the ethnic violence that rocked the Kandhamal district of Orissa following the assassination of Swami Lakshmanand Saraswati and his four associates on August 23 this year.

A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices P Sathasivam and P M Panchal adjourned the hearing till tomorrow of the petition filed by Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack seeking a CBI inquiry into the rape and humiliation of a Christian Nun.

The Orissa government has taken the stand that no CBI probe is required as the Crime Branch of the state police was investigating the case diligently without any fear and favour and a few arrests have also been made in the case.

The Navin Patnaik government has, however, refused to provide Rs three crore for the reconstruction and restoration of Churches, demolished and damaged during the communal riots, on the ground that secular policy of the state government does not allow the government to provide funds for religious places.

While the government was making all out efforts to restore and reconstruct public institutions such as schools, hospitals and orphanages, the situation in the state is fully under control.

UNI SC PD RP SB KN1700