B. K. Somasekhara

B. K. Somasekhara is a retired judge of the Karnataka High Court in India.

B. K. Somasekhara (right)

Justice Somasekhara Commission

Justice Somasekhara was appointed head of a commission of inquiry instituted in 2008 by the Government of Karnataka to inquire into the 2008 attacks on Christians in southern Karnataka. The commission, which was appointed in late 2008, submitted its report in January 2011.

The commission did not find evidence of any involvement of the state government or the police in the attacks. Nor did it find evidence of a cover-up. Many prominent Christians, including sitting and former judges like M. F. Saldanha had expressed the belief that both complicity and cover-up did happen during the disturbances, basing their belief on hearsay. They had hoped that the commission of inquiry would produce proof endorsing their belief, but this did not happen.[1][2][3][4] Somasekhara concluded in most cases that the district authorities and the police had taken the "appropriate steps regarding the Church and the persons including the required protection." He concluded that the attacks were "carried out by misguided elements following circulation of literature which insulted Hindu Gods and reports of conversion activity by some Christian groups." The report also exonerated the catholic church of misdemeanor, saying that "the Roman Catholic church and its leaders were not involved in conversion."[5]

The Archbishop of Bangalore, Bernard Moras, "rejected" the Somasekhara report, saying that "it has failed to address the terms of reference of the Commission and has failed to do justice to the Christian community."[6] He demanded that the state government launch a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the attacks, also saying that "we will make a representation to the government putting forth our demand. We will make a representation to the chief minister, the governor, various organisations including the Human Rights and the Central government".[6] However, Uday Kumar Shetty, the president of the district unit of the BJP, approved of the report, believing that the report was correct in its assertion that the Sangh Parivar were not involved in the attacks.[7]

References
  1. "Church attacks:Justice Denied?". Mangalore Today. 21 February 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  2. "K'taka minorities attack is state sponsored terror". The Times of India. 23 February 2011. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  3. "'True Hindus' absolved of violence charge". UCA News. 28 January 2011. Archived from the original on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  4. "Outrage over panel's clean chit to Sangh in Church attacks". The Milli Gazette. 17 March 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  5. "Karnatka to drop cases against 300 Christians". CNN-IBN. Archived from the original on 22 February 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  6. "Christians reject Somasekhara report, demand CBI probe". Mangalore Today. 5 February 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  7. "Widespread dismay in Udupi". The Hindu. 29 January 2011. Archived from the original on 11 February 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
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