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New Delhi: India's Supreme Court on Thursday ordered four more police battalions to be deployed to protect Christians in eastern India, where religious violence between Hindus and Christians has killed 16 people.
Thousands of Christians have taken shelter in makeshift government camps in Orissa state, where Hindu mobs went on the rampage last week after the murder of a Hindu leader, torching churches and damaging houses in a communally sensitive region. Most of those killed were Christians.
Sporadic violence has continued, and police said on Thursday a mob of about 1,000 Hindu men and women had attacked a Christian relief camp, injuring two people. Local media reports said nearly 40 people had been hurt.
The Supreme Court asked the Indian government to deploy the additional federal police in Kandhamal, the worst-affected district in rural Orissa district.
"The counsel for the state of Orissa states that four more battalions of the federal police are needed. The federal government may do so," the court order said.
The state government was also ordered to do more to protect Christians. Thousands of police have been deployed already in 12 of Orissa's 30 districts.
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