Nun files plea to shift venue of identification parade

The Catholic nun, who was allegedly raped on August 25, after violence broke out in Orissa, requested the state High Court for shifting the venue of the Test Identification parade of the accused persons.

In her petition on Monday, the 29-year-old nun expressed apprehensions of "danger to her life" in Kandhamal.

"The TI Parade may be allowed to be held at New Delhi or at any other place in Orissa, preferably Bhubaneswar or Cuttack. Many criminal elements are roaming free in the area and if she goes to Baliguda Court there is reasonable chance of danger to her life," the petition urged.

Earlier the court ordered the nun to identify her assailants on Nov 10, which was later rescheduled for Nov. 19. However as she failed to turn up, Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar said, "She is in trauma and hence she cannot travel."

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.