<p>A sessions court in Cuttack convicted three people on Friday for a nun’s gang-rape during communal violence in Kandhamal district in August 2008.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Along with the violence that claimed more than 35 lives and rendered thousands homeless, the gang-rape of the young nun triggered a nationwide uproar. The killing of the Hindu religious leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati by suspected Maoists had ignited the communal riots.<br /><br />All three have been given prison terms ranging from two to eleven years.<br />While convicting the three, including the prime accused Santosh Patnaik alias Mitu, the court acquitted six others due to lack of evidence. <br /><br />As per the court’s order, Mitu, who faced multiple charges including rape, will undergo imprisonment for eleven years and will be penalised Rs 10,000.<br /><br />Two other convicts in the case – Gajendra Digal and Saroj Bahdei – who were charged with outraging the modesty of a woman and other crimes, were sentenced to two years and two months in jail.<br /><br />The crime branch of the Odisha Police had investigated incident on the basis of a complaint filed by the nun, which alleged that she was beaten, raped and paraded naked in a village near Baliguda in the backward Kandhamal district on the night of August 25, 2008, during the peak of the anti-Christian violence.<br /><br />Several people were rounded up by the crime branch during investigation and subsequently nine were charge-sheeted. The trial began in August 2010. <br />The last hearing of the case was held on March 4. All, except Mitu, were granted bail during the trial.<br /><br />The Odisha High Court had shifted the trial from Kandhamal to Cuttack at the victim’s request.</p>
<p>A sessions court in Cuttack convicted three people on Friday for a nun’s gang-rape during communal violence in Kandhamal district in August 2008.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Along with the violence that claimed more than 35 lives and rendered thousands homeless, the gang-rape of the young nun triggered a nationwide uproar. The killing of the Hindu religious leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati by suspected Maoists had ignited the communal riots.<br /><br />All three have been given prison terms ranging from two to eleven years.<br />While convicting the three, including the prime accused Santosh Patnaik alias Mitu, the court acquitted six others due to lack of evidence. <br /><br />As per the court’s order, Mitu, who faced multiple charges including rape, will undergo imprisonment for eleven years and will be penalised Rs 10,000.<br /><br />Two other convicts in the case – Gajendra Digal and Saroj Bahdei – who were charged with outraging the modesty of a woman and other crimes, were sentenced to two years and two months in jail.<br /><br />The crime branch of the Odisha Police had investigated incident on the basis of a complaint filed by the nun, which alleged that she was beaten, raped and paraded naked in a village near Baliguda in the backward Kandhamal district on the night of August 25, 2008, during the peak of the anti-Christian violence.<br /><br />Several people were rounded up by the crime branch during investigation and subsequently nine were charge-sheeted. The trial began in August 2010. <br />The last hearing of the case was held on March 4. All, except Mitu, were granted bail during the trial.<br /><br />The Odisha High Court had shifted the trial from Kandhamal to Cuttack at the victim’s request.</p>
