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India takes weeks to admit nun
was gangraped
WSN Bureau
Bhubaneswar/New
Delhi: Yet another shameful chapter in sectarian strife was added
when the Orissa government confirmed that a 29-year-old Catholic nun
was raped by a fanatical Hindu gang on August 25, while the police
ignored her pleas for help and looked the other way.
After dragging
its feet for days, the state government finally woke up to media
reports and outrage across the country and abroad to arrest four
suspects and suspend the inspector in-charge of Baliguda police
station in Kandhmal, where the rape took place.
Orissa CM Naveen
Patnaik, who has been keeping a remarkably low profile despite the
state being rocked by anti-Christian violence for six weeks now, on
Friday describing the rape as a ‘‘shameful’’ and ‘‘savage’’ act and
promising ‘‘stringent action’’ against the culprits. But he parried
questions on the inordinate delay in the case, saying ‘‘action is
being taken’’. In New Delhi, PM Manmohan Singh told his colleagues
at a cabinet meeting that these incidents have tarred India’s image
abroad. He directed the Union home ministry to submit a report that
will be discussed by the cabinet next week. Several other ministers
spoke up, criticizing the Orissa government, although none of them
has yet sought the government’s sack. Home minister Shivraj Patil
has shot off a letter to Patnaik asking him to do more to control
the violence.
8 October 2008
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