Rape probe: Nun fails to turn up, date rescheduled

The Catholic nun who was ordered to appear in an Orissa state court to identify her rapists, failed to turn up following which the government has rescheduled the Identification Parade.

"She cannot travel; she is in trauma," Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar said.

The 28-year-old nun was ordered by a lower court to identify her assailants on November 10. However, as the nun who lives in an undisclosed area did not appear, the court has rescheduled it for Nov. 19.

Meanwhile, the Church is trying to move the case out of Orissa, where the nun still feels insecure.

Archbishop Cheenath said Church people are trying to have the case moved out of Orissa because the nun has no faith in the state police.

At a media conference in Delhi recently, the nun accused the police for their inaction while she was raped and paraded naked. She was raped by an angry mob of fanatic Hindus avenging the murder of VHP leader Laxmananda Saraswati, on August 25.

The lawyers representing the nun requested the court to reschedule the identification parade and possibly conduct it outside Orissa state for security reasons. They suggested New Delhi as an option.

The Church had petitioned the Supreme Court earlier seeking a probe by the federal Central Bureau of Investigation into the rape episode.

However, the Supreme Court rejected the plea and directed the nun to cooperate with the state police investigation. So far eight people have been arrested in connection with the incident.