New Delhi, Oct. 22: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Orissa government to grant “generous” compensation to reconstruct churches damaged during the Kandhamal violence and ensure that groups are engaged in a dialogue to restore peace in the state.

“The government will take a generous view on the matter (of compensation for churches),” ordered a bench, headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan said. The government had earlier refused to grant compensation for the churches stating that its secular policy prevented it from doing so.

It had, however, agreed to pay Rs 2 lakh in compensation for schools, colleges, orphanages and hospitals damaged in the violence.

Reacting to the judgement, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said: “Our government will abide by the decisions of the apex court.”

The court also directed that Centre’s forces stationed in Orissa to stay on till Christmas and after to ensure security of the community that fears fresh attacks during that time.

But, at the state’s request, the apex court did not transfer the case, relating to the rape of a nun, to the CBI — for now. The government said that it had arrested the main accused, as well as his accomplices.

“The complainant is not willing to co-operate with the investigation. If she did, a test identification parade (TIP) could be held to identify the culprits,” said counsel for the state K.K. Venugopal. “The government is ready to try the guilty,” he stressed.

Counsel for the Cuttack archbishop, who had sought the court’s intervention to protect the life and liberty of the members of his community, prayed for time from the court to seek the nun’s views. She has left for an undisclosed destination since the incident.

Counsel Colin Gonsalves had also cast doubts about the integrity of the two commissions of inquiry set up by the government to probe into the violence that broke out during December 24, 2007, and August 23, 2008, in Orissa. He sought a probe by Justice Sri Krishna who had investigated the Mumbai anti-Muslim riots.

Chief Justice Balakrishnan, while passing the order, urged the Orissa government to hold peace marches and facilitate a dialogue between the warring groups. “Arrests don’t solve the problem. One arrest has caused so much inconvenience to the public,” he said, alluding to the arrest of Raj Thackeray in Mumbai. “Now, people can’t even catch a bus to work,” he added.

The Centre, on its part, backed claims of Christian community that attacks were part of a larger conspiracy.

Additional solicitor-general Gopal Subramanium said: “This is a case of a continuous series of incidents based on profiling…. The state cannot allow this happen.”