New Delhi - India's National Human Rights Commission has asked the eastern state of Orissa to take measures to protect Christians during a shutdown called by Hindu groups on Christmas Day, news reports said Friday.

The state has seen widespread anti-Christian violence since August that was triggered by the killing of Hindu leader Laxmananda Saraswati, who led a campaign against conversion to Christianity in the region.

Fanatical Hindu groups suspecting involvement of Christians in the attack targeted Christians in clashes that continued until October, leaving nearly 40 people dead.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), or World Hindu Council, and allied Hindu groups recently called for a statewide shutdown to protest the Orissa government's failure to arrest Saraswati's killers.

The rights commission issued a notice asking the Orissa government to explain steps it had taken for the protection of Christians during the shutdown as Christian leaders said they feared violence on the day, the NDTV network reported.

India's Home Ministry also instructed the Orissa government to ensure peaceful Christmas celebrations, the report said.

Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik assured that the shutdown would not be permitted.

He said authorities would not allow violence to mar Christmas celebrations.

However, the VHP was defiant. "We do not require anyone's permission for a shutdown. Why has the government not been able to apprehend the conspirators behind our leader's killing?" VHP leader Gouri Prasad Rath said.

The Christian community in the state is worried.

"There is a great fear in the minds of people that anything may happen on this day," Raphael Cheenath, archbishop of Bhubaneshwar, told NDTV. "They feel that they are not at all safe to celebrate the feast of the birth of Christ."

He said people were coming in from outside the state carrying arms and ammunition. "We do not know who they are," he said. (dpa)