Ganjam district sessions court in Berhampur acquitted two persons due to lack of evidence in a case of gang-rape of a nun in Tikabali police station area on September 19, 2008, during communal riots in Kandhamal district of Odisha.
Ganjam District and Sessions Judge Malaya Ranjan Dash on Monday acquitted the two accused Ranga Pradhan and Babula Pradhan as the allegation could not be proved. Speaking to The Hindu , defence counsel Kailash Panigrahy said the medical report of the complainant and other evidences could not prove that she had been raped. Three cases had been filed in this regard and four persons and a juvenile had been taken into custody, said Mr Panigrahy. One accused had been acquitted earlier and another one named Manoj Pradhan is absconding.
“The victim had been medically examined within 24 hours of her accusation. But according to the medical report, there were no injuries on her private parts or body although according to her she had been raped on a rough rocky surface,” said the defence counsel.
Fifteen witnesses, including three officials of the Odisha Crime Branch, had deposed before the court as witnesses.
State Crime Branch had investigated the case.
Due to request of the complainant, the Odisha High Court had transferred the case hearing from Phulbani Sessions Court in Kandhamal district to Ganjam district Sessions Court in Berhampur. According to the charge sheet filed in the case, the incident had occurred at around 9 p.m. on September 19, 2008, at Gandaraju village about 15 km away from Tikabali.
The complainant had alleged that a mob had dragged her out from her residence at Gandaraju and taken her to a deserted rocky spot behind an anganwadi centre at the village, where she had been gang-raped. But the prosecution could not prove the rape and involvement of the accused in the incident.
