B. K. Somasekhara

Who is B. K. Somasekhara?

B. K. Somasekhara is an Indian judge, active in the State Court of Karnataka, India. He was the judge who conducted the official Bharatiya Janata Party investigation in the 2008 attacks on Christians in southern Karnataka. The report was widely criticised in India, not only because the length of the enquiry had been extended ten times, causing dismay amongst local Christians, but when it was eventually made public in January 2011, it denied any involvement of the state government and the police, "true Hindus", or any cover-up in the attacks, which many Christians and other judges such as M. F. Saldanha believed were responsible. 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 insulting Hindu gods and reports of conversion activity by some Christian groups" and that "the Roman Catholic church and its leaders were not involved in conversion." Archbishop of Bangalore Archdiocese 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." He demanded that the state government launch a Central Bank of India 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". 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.