The victim, who is attending university in Chennai (formerly Madras), the capital of Tamil Nadu state, told police she received a phone call from a woman, who reported that her mother in Orissa was very sick.

On July 5, she took a train to Bamunigam. At the railway station she was met by several cousins and neighbors, who said they would take her to her home.

Instead they carried her to an isolated location, held her for several days, and repeatedly assaulted her. They eventually returned her to the train station on July 11.

The assailants ordered the nun not to tell anyone about what had happened, but on July 13 she filed charges with the police.

A statement from Bishop Thomas Thiruthalil, Bishop of Balasore and president of the Episcopal Conference in Orissa, called on the government to protect Christians from such attacks.

"Violence still strikes Christians in Orissa," he said. "Very often those responsible are Hindu fundamentalist groups who do not look kindly upon Christians. As a Church we are insisting with the government to ensure the safety and security of Christian faith citizens."

However, police arrested three Catholic siblings — two brothers and a sister — who are cousins of the victim, and charged them with the rapes.

Church officials said the case results from a long-standing family feud. The father of the three accused was killed last year, apparently by Maoist guerrillas, and his children accused the nun's family of being involved.

Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttuck-Bhubaneswar archdiocese said the incident was in "no way" linked to religious persecution or the anti-Christian violence that hit the state some five years ago.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, said the fact that the attack was meticulously planned "heightens the gravity of the deplorable and utterly reprehensible crime".

Sources:

AsiaNews

Vatican News

Patheos

Image: USA-UK Online

Fides details the significant level of anti-Christian violence in Orissa

• 230 damaged or demolished churches and chapels
• 100 deaths
• 54,000 people in 415 villages were made homeless
• at least 6,000 cases of houses burned and destroyed
• out of 3,232 cases of violence reported to the police, 828 were officially registered
• 327 of the 828 registered cases ended with a court case
• the lower courts acquitted 639
• only 19 trials for murder ended in a conviction
• 1,597 militants were well identified and then cleared
• thousand's of other attackers have not even been contacted by the police.

The court also criticised the Orissa government for its poor handling of relief and rehabilitation efforts, comments echoed by Orissa's leading bishop, Archbishop John Barawa.

"The government has failed miserably in all the rehabilitation activities," Barawa said.

Bipra Charan Nayak, convener of the Survivors Association of Kandhamal Violence however welcomed the court order as a way to help restore things to the way it was before the violence broke.

Father Manoj Kumar Nayak, who directs the archdiocese's social service centre, said the Church has petitioned the government several times about property destroyed in the violence, but has yet to receive any compensation, however hopes the NHRC report would address the Church's concerns.

"We hope the NHRC will look into our case as well as all the other Kandhamal victims," he said.

Lan Singh Rongmei, a Supreme Court lawyer assisting the victims, said they expect the NHRC would submit a fair and independent assessment.

The Indian Bishops recently concluded their 'ad limina' visit, briefing the Pope on the level of anti-christian persecution in their country.

Sources

• ucanews.com
• CNA
• Fides
• Image: Anglican Mainstream