24, Feb 2016

Staff Reporter
BERHAMPUR, February 24, 2016
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.