Orissa govt seeks nun's co–operation to help identify rapists

Following the recent media conference where a Roman Catholic nun recounted her trauma of being raped by an angry mob, the state government on Saturday sought her co–operation in identifying the rapists.

"We have offered to provide her all security and requested her to cooperate," Director General of Police Manmohan Praharaj told OTV news channel.

The authorities were even agreeing to conduct an identification parade of the alleged rapists in keeping with the nun's convenience of time and place.

On Friday, after weeks of silence and isolation from the police and secular people, the 28–year–old–nun narrated her ordeal during the August 25 anti–Christian violence by Hindu fanatics avenging the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides.

She recounted that a mob of up to 50 men armed with sticks, axes, spades, iron rods and sickles dragged her and a Catholic priest from the house where they were sheltering on August 25. She was later raped and paraded naked by the mob.

“When we reached the marketplace about a dozen of OSAP policemen were there. I went to them asking to protect me and I sat in between two policemen. But they did not move. One from the crowd again pulled out from there and they wanted to lock us in the temple mandap,” she said, accusing the police of standing idle and abetting the rapists.

The state government suspended the officer in charge of the police station after the matter was highlighted by the media and ordered the crime branch of the police to probe the incident.

The violence has left 60 people dead and over thousands rendered homeless.