In the sensational 2008 Kandhamal nun gang-rape case, the Cuttack District and Sessions Judge on Friday convicted the key accused Mitu Patnaik (32) under the charges of gang-rape and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 11 years.
The court also held two others, Gajendra Digal and Saroj Badhei, guilty for outraging the modesty of the victim, obscene act and criminal intimidation to her and acquitted six others for having no substantial evidence against them. Digal and Badhei were sentenced to undergo RI for two years. While Digal has already been an under-trial prisoner for over four years and his sentence is likely to be set off, but Badhei, who was behind the bars for over a year, may go back to jail to serve the remaining period. However, the court later in the afternoon granted bail to both Digal and Badhei till the convicted persons prefer an appeal against the conviction order in the High Court.
The 25-year-old nun had alleged that she was raped on August 25, 2008 after a mob ransacked and attacked the local pastoral centre after the brutal murder of Hindu seer Swami laxmanananda Saraswati the day before. The State Crime Branch police taking up the investigation had filed three chargesheets separately in the case accusing at least 30 people in total. The Cuttack District Judge, however, was holding the trial after the first chargesheet was made in which charges were framed against only ten people, of whom one accused is still absconding.
Earlier in the morning, the District Judge Gyanaranjan Purohit pronounced his judgement, which had been reserved after the end of argument last week. Examining the statements of around 29 witnesses and on the basis of arguments made by the prosecution, the court held Patnaik, Digal and Badhei guilty for the offences under Sections 148, 354/149, 294/149, 506 (ii)/149 IPC and further held accused Patnaik guilty under Section 376 (2) (g) and convicted them in the case registered at the K Nuagaon police station in August 2008.
In the afternoon, the court hearing on the question of sentence relied heavily on the communal harmony of the locality, which had been disrupted for a brief period after the murder of the Hindu seer, sentenced all the three convicts for two years. Taking into consideration the circumstances in which the nun was gang-raped in the presence of a mob, the court felt that the convict Patnaik doesn’t deserve lenient sentence and sentenced him RI of 11 years and slapped a fine of Rs 10,000.