Nun makes U-turn, denies gangrape

The 29-year-old nun who shot into the limelight by claiming that she was gangraped in K Nugaoan on August 25 made a U-turn on Tuesday, saying she had not been gangraped but saved by a Hindu man at the last moment. She was raped by only one person, she said.

Sources said during her interrogation by the Crime Branch in New Delhi, she stated that after the sexual assault, she was saved by a local Hindu from being gangraped. “One youth raped me while two others molested and attempted to rape. But I was saved by a Hindu man,” she reportedly told the Crime Branch.

During the violence that followed after the assassination of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, a group of people had attacked the church and an attempt was made to rape the nun. The nun had reportedly stated that she was confident that she would be able to identify the accused with whom she had a scuffle.

However, the alleged victim was worried that she might not be able to identify the two others who had also attempted to rape her as she was in a semi-conscious state after being raped.

Meanwhile, the Baliguda court on Wednesday rejected the nun’s plea to arrange the TI parade in New Delhi. Moving the petition on behalf of her, advocate Manas Ranjan Singh stated that as she was not in good health, she would not be able to travel such a long distance to participate in the TI parade in Orissa. Singh also cited security reasons for her unwillingness to come to Baliguda to attend the TI parade.

However, the court rejected the petition and asked the Crime Branch to file the chargesheet in the case on November 24. On her unwillingness to attend the Test Identification Parade (TIP) at Baliguda in Kandhamal, the nun said she would not go to that place under any circumstances. “I will appeal to the court not to force me to go to Kandhamal again as this may add to my injuries,” the nun told the CB team. Earlier, the nun failed to appear in the TI parade on November 9 despite a court directive.

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