SC to examine ‘raped’ Kandhamal nun’s plea

A bench of justices Altamas Kabir and J Chelameshwar,which posted to Monday the plea made by senior counsel Colin Gonzalves on behalf of the victim,sought the presence of the government’s standing counsel.

The bench was initially not inclined to interfere with the high court order,but after Gonzalves persisted with the plea citing certain purported decisions of the apex court,it agreed to hear the matter on Monday.

In her plea,the victim sought the cross-examination and recall of a prosecution witness who is the subdivisional magistrate (SDM),Sadar. The nun says he had wrongly in his examination submitted that one of the accused Santosh Patnaik “did not commit any other overt act”.

According to the SDM,Patnaik “gave her (victim) a slap,pulled her saree,squeezed her breasts and did not commit any other overt act”.

The victim had sought cross-examination of the SDM or alternatively sought him declared a hostile witness. The trial court turned down her plea on the ground that cross-examination can be made either at the request of the public prosecutor or upon direction by the court.

She challenged the same before the Orissa High Court which concurred with the reasoning. She then appealed to the apex court.

Thirty eight people were killed in the Kandhamal riots during 2008 and the nun was allegedly gangraped by fanatics.

The riots occurred in Kandhamal,a tribal-dominated district,in the aftermath of the killing of VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati at the Jalespata Ashram on August 23,2008.

A fast-track court in Phulbani,Orissa,last year sentenced eight accused in the 2008 Kandhamal communal riots to five years imprisonment. Nineteen others were,however,acquitted by the court.

Hindu groups in the state blamed Christians for killing Lakshmanananda. They said Lakshmanananda had claimed that Christians were trying to eliminate him for his opposition to conversion,and had attacked him “eight times before”.

In August,Hindu mobs,allegedly set fire to many Christian settlements,in which at least 38 people were killed.

In addition,more than 25,000 Christians were forced to flee their villages “after their houses were attacked by rampaging mobs”.

The Supreme Court has been monitoring the relief and rehabilitation measures for the victim following petitions filed by the Orissa’s Archbishop and others.