Residents of Manoharpur, a remote village in Keonjhar district of Odisha, will on Monday observe the 25th death anniversary of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons, whose murder had then shaken the conscience of humanity.
On the wintry night of January 22, 1999, Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, who participated in a jungle camp in Manoharpur, were charred to death. This annual jungle camp served as a social platform for Christians in the region to engage in discussions about their beliefs. At the time of the horrific incident, they were sleeping inside a van. Right-wing groups accused Staines of engaging in forced conversions.
