Death and Reaction
On the night of 22 January 1999, Graham Staines had attended a jungle camp in Manoharpur, an annual gathering of Christians of the area for religious and social discourse. The village is situated on the border of the tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts of Orissa. He was on his way to Keonjhar with his sons, who had come back on holiday from their school at Ooty. They broke the journey for the camp, and spend the night in Manoharpur, sleeping in the vehicle because of the severe cold. Gladys had stayed back in Baripada. According to reports, a mob of about 50 people, armed with axes and other implements, attacked the vehicle while Stains and the children were fast asleep and his station wagon where he was sleeping was set afire by the mob. Graham, Philip and Timothy Staines were burnt alive. Some villagers tried to rescue Staines and his sons, but were unsuccessful. They tried to escape, but the mob allegedly prevented their attempt to escape.
His murder was widely condemned by religious and civic leaders, politicians, and journalists. The US-based Human Rights Watch accused the then Indian Government of failing to prevent violence against Christians, and of exploiting sectarian tensions for political ends. The organisation said attacks against Christians increased "significantly" since the "Hindu Nationalist" BJP came to power. The then Prime Minister of India, Atal Behari Vajpayee, who was a leader of BJP, condemned the "ghastly attack" and called for swift action to catch the killers. Published reports state that church leaders alleged the attacks were carried out at the behest of hardline Hindu organisations while the Hindu hardliners accused Christian missionaries of forcibly converting poor and low-caste Hindus and tribals. The convicted killer Dara Singh was treated as a hero and reportedly was protected by some of the villagers. In an interview with Hindustan Times, one of the accused killers, Mahendra Hembram, told that "they were provoked by the "corruption of tribal culture" by the missionaries, who they claimed fed villagers beef and gave women brassieres and sanitary towels."
In her affidavit before the Commission on the death of her husband and two sons Gladys Staines stated:
"The Lord God is always with me to guide me and help me to try to accomplish the work of Graham, but I sometimes wonder why Graham was killed and also what made his assassins to behave in such a brutal manner on the night of 22nd/23rd January 1999. It is far from my mind to punish the persons who were responsible for the death of my husband Graham and my two children. But it is my desire and hope that they would repent and would be reformed."
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