Staines' widow pained by Orissa violence

Mayurbhanj/Kandhamal: It's been ten years since the Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were burnt alive by fundamentalists.

His widow 57-year-old Gladys Staines had the heart to forgive the killers of her husband and two minor sons. But once again, faced with fundamentalist violence in Orissa's Kandhamal district, she finds it difficult to fathom the reason behind the killings.

"I am very upset over what happened in Kandhamal. Just because one does not like what others preach, it does not give anyone the right to kill anybody," Gladys argues.

After she lost all of her family save for a daughter, Gladys continued to serve the inmates of this leprosy home at Baripada in Mayurbhaanj district of Orissa for six long years.

In 2006 she left for Australia to stay with her 23-year-old daughter Easter Staines who is a student of medicine there. But Gladys who received Padmashree award in 2005 often visits this leprosy home in Orissa.

"The last ten years were very difficult but I will serve the people in whatever form God makes me do that," said Easter, the motivated daughter of Gladys and Graham Staines.

Though the Kandhamal communal violence and particularly the alleged rape of the nun has made Gladys very upset, there are many people like Prahalad Pradhan in Kandhamal who still exude hope of a secular society.

Prahalad gave the nun shelter and tried his best to save the nun from the mob.

"I feel sad that I could not save her. The mob stopped me from protecting her. I want that the culprits should be punished severely for this inhuman act," said Prahalad Pradhan, the saviour from Balliguda.

The nun had identified two accused in the case and the crime branch of Orissa is likely to file a charge sheet in this case soon.

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