Imaginary threads to weave emperor's clothes

In another case of truth by repeated assertion, we have Vidya Subramanyam telling us about the incident of a catholic nun raped in Kandhamal. The media ran the story of Jhabua nun rape case endlessly until the truth emerged that the perpetrators where christians. But that is no deterrent for Vidya, the bleeding heart intellectual. She repeats in gory detail the rape incident even though it is now public knowledge that the alleged rape was a fabrication. She is imagining all these common threads and creating a fabric to dress the emperor with no clothes.

Vidya Subramanyam now joins that non-state actor, Arundhati Susan Roy, in the liar club.
The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Three pogroms held together by a common thread

The Hindu of September 30, 2008 reported the case of a Catholic nun who was stripped naked and brutally gang-raped in front of a police post with 12 policemen from the Orissa State Armed Police present and watching. The Catholic priest who was with her was mercilessly thrashed for refusing to participate in the atrocity.

Here is the Sep 30, 2008 report filed by Parvathi Menon, which made it to the front page of chindu:
The Hindu : Front Page : Nun was gang raped and priest brutally assaulted in Kandhamal

The gang rape of the young nun, whose “virginity [was] grossly violated in public” ... took place in front of a police outpost with 12 policemen from the Orissa State Armed Police present and watching, according to Father Thomas Chellan, the priest who was dragged out and badly beaten.

“Around 1 p.m., a gang came and pulled me and the Sister out of the house where we had taken shelter and started assaulting us,” Father Chellan told The Hindu in a telephonic interview from Kerala where he is recuperating.

“My appeals to the policemen who were standing nearby and watching only resulted in further beating. At one point the nun slipped away to plead with the police for help but she was dragged back by the mob and her blouse torn,” he said. The nun was gang raped in a nearby building, and he was doused with kerosene by the mob, which threatened to set him on fire. They were saved by a group of youth who took them to the police outpost where “one among the attackers was present with the police between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m.,” Father Chellan said.

News of the K. Nuagaon atrocity was conveyed through mobile phones to several priests and nuns hiding in the forests, fearing for their lives as the anti-Christian hunt was on. The victims were taken to the Baliguda police station around 9 p.m. where they lodged First Information Reports. “I believe the Sister wrote in her complaint that she was raped,” Father Chellan said.

Vidya Subramanyam is probably well aware of the direction in which the case is going but she avoids referring to a more recent update on the case. Below is 27 July 2010 news item from chindu hidden in the Other States - Orissa section:
The Hindu : Other States / Orissa News : Nun rape case: priest deposes before judge

Baliguda Catholic church Father Thomas Chelathin—a key witness to the Kandhamal nun rape case, admitted before a trial court here on Monday that he had not mentioned about the rape incident in his first FIR filed on August 26, 2008, just a day after the nun was allegedly raped during the communal riots in the district.

But to get a really good idea, read Sandhya Jain's article on Daily Pioneer, dated August 3, 2010. Link and Excerpts below:
The Pioneer > Online Edition : >> A conspiracy unravels

Fr Thomas Chellan’s admission in court on July 26 that he did not report the alleged rape of the nun when filing the first information report with the police on August 26, 2008. The Baliguda Catholic Church pastor, a key witness in the case, admitted during cross-examination before Cuttack district and sessions judge Bira Kishore Mishra that he had not mentioned the alleged rape in the FIR filed a day after the incident is said to have occurred. His complaint caused the arrest of 23 people.
He identified two accused in court as being part of the mob that attacked his church, but had failed to identify either man during the test identification parade held at Choudwar jail last year.
Interestingly, Dr Chotray Marandia, who first treated the nun after the alleged assault-cum-rape, testified on August 28 that she had only complained of swelling on her face. “I only treated the swelling on her face and she did not complain of anything else,” he replied when asked by defence lawyers about other injuries on her body. So we have no evidence of rape.

The then block development officer, Mr BB Mishra, testified that he had accompanied the nun and priest to the local police station to file their complaint about the mob attack. Both thus had full official protection while filing the complaint, and cannot claim that the police did not record the FIR properly, or that the rape charge was ignored by the police. These testimonies are damning.

That the rape is most likely a fabrication can be seen from the nervousness of the prosecution. Earlier, her lawyers had sought a month’s time for the nun to appear before the court. This is suspicious to say the least, but fits in with the church’s hiding the nun from the local people and producing a veiled woman with a thick Malayalam accent at a Press conference in Delhi. Interestingly, last Saturday the nun failed to identify the key accused at a test identification parade.

The Church-prosecution embarrassment has been aggravated by the June 12 arrest of Pandit Bishimajhi for allegedly plotting to kill the nun and priest to prevent them from testifying against the mob. It was alleged that Bishimajhi led several mob attacks, one of which stripped and paraded the nun and Fr Chellan, and is thus complicit in the fast-disintegrating rape case.

Christist petition details

The SLP about Kandhamal riots contains allegations. But Chindu avoids using its famous "quotation marks". The word "alleged" is dropped at the earliest possible instance. The petition details are elaborated. Overall, Chindu tries to give the impression that the SLP is the word of god. Another aspect is that, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the violence was more due to political reasons related to reservations rather than religious conflicts. Chindu obviously tries to project it as a communal riot against Christists. Suits its agenda better.

The Hindu : National : Order against church relief to Orissa riot victims stayed

The SLP alleged that on December 24, 2007, communal organisations brutally attacked Christians, destroyed 68 churches and 500 houses and looted property. Six persons were killed hundreds of families fled fearing attack. But the approach of the State administration and the police indicated that the communal organisations had the State support, the petition said.

Most of those who had attacked the Churches and Christians were yet to be arrested and those arrested on flimsy charges were released on bail.

The government was silent on providing relief and rehabilitation to the riot victims. In a few cases, the government paid a maximum relief of Rs. 10,000 to a family. When the petitioner sought to reconstruct the churches and houses, he was prevented from doing so, the SLP said.

The Collector passed an order that no religious or non-governmental organisation should undertake relief work. The High Court rejected a petition assailing this order. The SLP said the High Court failed to realise that it was of paramount urgency that relief reached the victims immediately.