Kandhamal: Nun rape trial begins

The nun,who was working at Divyajyoti Pastoral Centre at K Nuagaon block,was allegedly dragged out of a retired head clerks house by 40-odd armed men to the office of Jan Vikash,an NGO,and then raped by one of them on August 25,2008,during the communal strife. In her FIR,the nun had alleged that the assailants chanted Bharat Mata Ki Jai before one of them raped her. The nun,who is a native of Sambalpur district in Orissa,worked as an administrator at Divyajyoti Pastoral Centre at Kanjamendi village under

K Nugaon block of Kandhamal. The rape happened even as 12 policemen of the Orissa State Armed Police camped in a school in front of the NGO office.

Though the case was initially committed to a fast-track court in Kandhamal trying all riot cases,it was transferred to a sessions court in Cuttack after the nun petitioned that she would feel unsafe in Kandhamal. The CID has arrested at least 23 people and filed four chargesheets. In the first phase,the court will try at least nine accused. The nun had identified main accused Santosh Patnaik alias Mitu.