Editorial Desk

Exactly two months after the outrage, the nun from Kandhmal district of Indian state of Orissa has bared her angst. With her face covered up to the eyes, she addressed the national media in Delhi to present a chilling account of the rape, indeed to orchestrate her demand for justice and a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry.

The decision to go public must rank as extraordinary, rekindling memories of Pakistan's Mukhtaran Mai who had raised her voice against her gangrape in 2002. She is today a symbol of strength for women in Pakistan; so too perhaps will be the nun from India's back of beyond Kandhmal.

She has accused the Orissa police of being "biased and friendly with the attackers". This is a charge to which the state must respond, one that is generally in accord with the popular perception of the Biju Janata Dal-Bharatiya Janta Party (BJD-BJP) administration in Bhubaneswar and its almost contrived failure to contain communal strife.

Her demand for a CBI probe illustrates her total lack of faith in the state police--"I don't want to be victimised." The immediate response of a senior Orissa police officer has been unsympathetic and brusque--"Whether she likes it or not, the state's crime branch will continue with its investigations." What are the state authorities afraid of? Will a CBI probe open a can of worms? If it does, so be it.

The only concession the state administration has made in response to her strident appeal in the national capital is to conduct the Test Identification (TI) parade at a place of her choosing. Till she decided to go public, the state government was firm in its condition that she must "cooperate" with the Orissa police in Orissa. This is a somewhat chauvinistic spin. While investigation can only be conducted at the place of occurrence, a rape victim will be wary of returning to the state that failed to protect her... to the point of being dithering and partisan in the handling of communal strife and violent ethnicity. Civil society must step in to ensure that the nun does not feel fear in taking the next logical step in her battle for justice.