The fast-track court in Orissa’s Kandhamal district has done well to restore people's confidence in the rule of law by sentencing a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Manoj Pradhan to seven years of rigorous jail term. Pradhan was charged for inciting violence against Dalit christians in the state.

Pradhan emerged as a key figure of the Hindutva forces and led the mob that killed, maimed and looted christians in a series of attacks after the assassination of a Hindu spritual figure Laxmananand Saraswati. The riots had claimed more than 40 lives besides causing destruction of over 4,000 houses. Pradhan's name figured in over a dozen cases, half of them related to murders in 2008.

Kandhamal riots reflected the failure of the Navin Patnaik government which was in alliance with the BJP. A peeved Patnaik, however, later broke off with the BJP and ordered the police to conduct a fair investigation that led to the arrest of culrptis like Pradhan. To its credit, the fast-track court delivered the judgment within two years of the incident.

Obviously, the BJP had fielded Pradhan as MLA in order to capitalise on polarised emotions after the riots. But this short-term strategy of the party leadership has already done irreparable damage to its image of being a responsible national party. The court's judgment should serve as a notice to all political parties who patronise criminals playing on religious, caste or other parochial sensibilities.