05.04.09
Witnesses fail to testify in Orissa – NUN RAPE CASE
Source: Zee News, 23 April 2009, http://www.zeenews.com/states/2009-04-22/525833news.html
Phulbani: Five witnesses in the nun rape case in Orissa’s Kandhamal district did not testify to the incident in a fast track court on 22 April 2009.
Prahalad Pradhan and his wife Chanchala in whose house the nun and the priest took shelter after the assault and alleged rape during the Orissa bandh on 25 August 2008, two days after the killing of VHP leader Laxmananda Saraswati and four of his associates, did not confirm the incident.
Chanchala in her deposition only admitted that the nun and the priest took shelter at their house and said she did not know anything else. Prahalad, however, said that the two were dragged from their house by a mob.
Three other witnesses, Debendra Naik, Dhaneswar Mallick and Surendra Digal, stated that they had no knowledge about the incident.
