Nun identifies rape accused during identification parade

Cuttack, Jan 5 (PTI) More than four months after being
allegedly raped during the unrest in Kandhamal district in
India's eastern coastal state of Orissa, a Catholic nun Monday
identified two persons for their involvement in the incident,
police said.

The 29-year-old nun, who attended the test
identification parade of accused persons held at Choudwar jail
near here, identified two persons from among those lined up
for the exercise, a senior crime branch officer said.

While 10 people had been arrested in connection with
the case, 80 others were also presented before the nun during
the parade, sources said, adding the exercise continued for
about 90 minutes.

She first spotted four persons from among the 10
arrested men and finally zeroed in on two of them, they said.

The much-awaited parade was held in the high-security
jail after the nun arrived there escorted by crime branch
sleuths including a lady police official and accompanied by
three other women, believed to be church representatives.

Sub-divisional judicial magistrate of Cuttack Sadar, P
K Das, was also present during the parade, they said.

Though the parade was to be held on Saturday, the
authorities deferred the exercise till Monday citing
"unnecessary media attention", they said.

The nun was allegedly raped at K Nuagaon in
strife-torn Kandhamal during the Orissa bandh on August 25
after prominent Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader
Laxmanananda Saraswati was gunned down on August 23 at his
Jalespota ashram in the district.

Though the nun had alleged in the FIR lodged at
Baliguda police station on August 26 that she had been raped
by one person, she identified two youths during the parade,
the official said, adding one of them could be the main
accused, while the other might have assisted in the offence.

The 10 arrested people, who were lodged at the
Baliguda sub-jail in Kandhamal district, had been earlier
shifted to Choudwar jail for the parade. The accused were
arrested last October.

Though a court in Baliguda had fixed dates for the
parade twice earlier, the nun failed to turn up while seeking
change of venue of the exercise saying she did not want to
visit Kandhamal again.

Her plea was heard by Orissa High Court which allowed
conduct of the parade at Cuttack. PTI