Nun to skip TIP at Baliguda today

The Catholic nun who was raped during the Orissa carnage last year will not attend the test identification parade (TIP) today at the Baliguda jail.

''The nun will not attend the TIP scheduled to be held at Baliguda tomorrow as she does not feel secure going to Kandhamal again,'' Vicar-general at the Bishop House Joseph Kalathil told reporters.

The nun's counsel Manas Ranjan Singh questioned the choice of venue and said an appeal was already placed at the Orissa High Court, seeking transfer of the case out of Kandhamal.

"We don't intend to avoid the process of law, but my client is feeling unsafe to return to Kandhamal. Hence, wants the case to be shifted elsewhere," he added.

The nun is yet to reach Orissa, official sources said.

The 29-year-old nun who was raped and paraded naked on August 25, 2008, in the aftermath of the killing of a local VHP leader, in her first TIP identified two persons at a jail in Cuttack.

Following the arrest of five more accused, the crime branch officials called for another TIP.

So far police have arrested 15 of the 30 persons on whom case has been registered.