Kandhamal nun’s plea disallowed by HC

Kandhamal nun’s plea disallowed by HC

The Odisha High Court on Wednesday disallowed the prayer of the Kandhamal nun who had sought a stay or deferment of trial proceedings of her case in the Cuttack District and Sessions Court.

A single-judge bench of HC comprising Justice BK Naik refused to grant any relief to the nun stating that since the trial in the lower court has already begun, it cannot be stayed or deferred at this stage. Instead, the HC asked her to approach the trial court if she had any grievances.

With this order coming from the HC on Wednesday, the nun- who was allegedly raped during August 2008 Kandhamal violence- is now left with no choice but to appear before the trial court on Thursday either personally or through her advocate to spell out her grievances.

The nun was given a last chance by the Cuttack court to appear before it on September 23 and 24 to record her statements. The court had also warned of "coercive" actions against her if she fails to turn up in the court again this time as she had defied the court summons thrice earlier.

The Cuttack court had been holding trail in the case since July this year following an order of the HC, which, incidentally, had come on the insistence of the nun. But surprisingly, the nun was avoiding the trial court all these days on the plea that she was indisposed due to sickness. But during this period she had participated in a test identification (TI) parade here at Choudwar jail.

It may be mentioned here that the nun had earlier approached the HC through a writ petition seeking to shift all her pending cases in Kandhamal district pertaining to August 2008 riots to any of the courts in Cuttack or Bhubaneswar as she was feeling unsafe to go to Kandhamal. This petition of the nun however, is still pending in the HC.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/285047/Kandhamal-nun’s-plea-disallowed-by-HC.html