A group of women activists of Sangh Parivar sat on a dharna in Bhubaneswar demanding arrest of the nun, who was raped in Kandhamal, for 'playing hide and seek" with the Orissa government.
Protesters torched 24 houses in Kandhamal on Saturday as the death toll in the week-long communal violence rose to 14, with the recovery of two more bodies in the Orissa district.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was headed for the curfew-bound district to review the situation in the affected areas and the Ashram at Jalespeta, where Vishwa Hindu Parishad Laxamanada Saraswati was gunned down along with three others on August 23, leading to the violence.
At least two persons were killed and two injured when police opened fire on Tuesday to disperse a mob attacked places of worships, prayer halls, houses and shops at Barakhama in Orissa's Kandhamal district rocked by violence in the wake of the killing of a VHP leader.
Asking the Orissa government to order an expeditious probe into the killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four others in Kandhamal district, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Sunday expressed outrage over the incident.Advani said, "The fact that he was assassinated on the auspicious day of Janmashtami while celebrating the festival, reveals an ominous motive behind the incident, suspected to have been committed by Maoists."
The Home Minister, who is on a two-day visit to Orissa, met the victims living in relief camps set up after a series of communal clashes following the killing of 85-year-old VHP leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati in August last year.
The VHP leaders presented a memorandum to the President, seeking an immediate ban on the conversion activities of Christian missionaries and foreign funds to these organisations. They also demanded a thorough scrutiny of the accounts of these Christian missionaries and urged the President to ensure that no foreigner is allowed to practice religious conversion in the country.
Twelve churches and prayer houses were ransacked and torched by suspected saffron activists in several areas of Kandhamal district in Orissa in the early hours of Thursday.
The nun, missing since the incident and had reportedly taken shelter at a church in Delhi, was not found when Additional Resident Commissioner M Satyanarayan went there last night, Home Secretary T K Mishra told PTI.
The father of the nun, who was allegedly raped during the Kandhahmal riots, has left it to Goddess Durga to get her justice."I am busy with preparations for the Dussehra festival. Let the Goddess punish the culprits," said Ignace Barwa, whose second daughter was allegedly raped during a mob attack at K Nuagauon of Kandhamal on August 25."Ours is the only Christian family in the village," Rezina said, adding that they participate in all Hindu festivals.
The Third Front will be a major force in the next Lok Sabha polls, says Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Niloptal Basu.
A Citizen's Delegation, which met President Pratibha Patil on Monday, informed her that in the riot-hit district of Kandhamal in Orissa, as many as 50,000 people were hiding in forests or had taken refuge in camps, to escape the rampaging mob of VHP activists.Earlier in the day, the Orissa government had claimed that the situation in Kadhamal and other riot-hit areas in the state were under control.The delegation was led by filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.
A large number of Maoists have been killed and four policemen were missing in the continuing gunbattle between security forces and the militants, who killed 15 people on Friday, in the Ganjam-Kandhamal border area of Orissa, official sources said.
A Kandhamal court on Monday posted the next date of hearing in the alleged nun rape case to December 6, after the Orissa police failed to file a chargesheet in the case.No application has been filed from the nun's side. The police made the first arrest in the case on October 3. The alleged rape victim did not attend the TIP on November 10 and November 19 on health grounds.
The nun, who was allegedly raped during communal violence in Kandhamal, has told the Crime Branch of Orissa police that after the sexual assault, she was saved by a local Hindu man from being gangraped, police said today.
While demanding justice, a nun who was allegedly raped in Orissa's riot-hit Kandhamal district has claimed that she can identify the culprits.The nun alleged that she was dragged by her hair by men from a Hindu household where she was hiding. "...Two men were holding my hand, one raped me," she told CNN-IBN from an undisclosed location.Blaming the police for inaction, the nun claimed the policemen present there failed to protect her.
Official sources said the probe was ordered by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who visited the riot-torn area on Thursday to take stock of the situation.
A tribal girl was gangraped near the high-security Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar, barely a month after the gangrape of a local tourist near Konark Sun temple, the police said on Thursday.
The Odisha government stepped up relief and restoration activities as cyclone Hudhud passed to neighbouring Chhattisgarh on Monday after claiming three lives, damaging about 50,000 thatched houses, electrical infrastructure and roads in four districts.
Patnaik's image of a "clean and honest" politician is widely regarded as the reason why he was able to withstand a spirited challenge thrown by the Bharatiya Janata Party, analysts say of perhaps the lone regional satrap who cannot even properly speak the language of his native state.
BJD managed to retain 112 seats securing another term for Patnaik in the CM chair.
Over 2 lakh people living in and around the vulnerable coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha have been evacuated with Cyclone 'Hudhud' set to hit the two states no Sunday with winds gusting up to 195 kmph.
'The rhetoric of the right wing is creating such a situation. They are inspiring youngsters to such action by their speeches.'
The state government has instructed officials in coastal districts and various departments to be alert to tackle any emergency situation
Sixteen deaths in rain and flood-related incidents have been reported from western Maharashtra in the last seven days, while the toll in Karnataka rose to five since Sunday.
The 1986 batch Odisha cadre IPS officer has been described as a competent officer and is known for his acumen in handling disasters.
In the second phase on April 18, 97 seats,spread across 13 states and one Union Territory, will go to the polls.
In heart-wrenching scenes reminiscent of the aftermath of the 2019 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, coffins of soldiers arrived in several states for the last rites with full military honours.
Five of those caught in the cross fire died on the spot, while another person succumbed to injuries later, Kandamal superintendent of police Pinak Mishra told media persons.
Government has received reports that Naxals have undertaken employment in urban areas in order to earn livelihood and evade police action, Parliament was informed on Tuesday.
Naveen Patnaik, who steered the Biju Janata Dal to a landslide victory in the Odisha assembly elections, was on Wednesday sworn in as chief minister for a fourth consecutive term.
The cyclone would bring light to moderate rains at most places and 'heavy to very heavy downpour' at some places on November 6.
The South Central Railway as well as the East Coast Railway cancelled several trains while some were terminated midway, officials said, adding a few express trains were also diverted.
Beyond welfare politics, the BJP has assiduously worked to appropriate regional icons.
The India Meteorological Department has issued a warning that the heat wave condition is likely to occur at isolated places in all districts in Telangana on Sunday.
The Lok Sabha election will be held in 7 phases, beginning on April 11, 2019 and ending on May 19, 2019.
The India Meteorological Department said rainfall would be accompanied by gale wind speed reaching 140 to 150 kmph and gusting to 165 kmph along and off Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh coasts.
Even as the BJP makes inroads into previously unfamiliar territories in eastern India, the party will have to be wary of losing out elsewhere, says Amulya Ganguli.
This classification of districts is to be followed by states and union terrotories till a week post May 3, when the second phase of lockdown will end, for containment operations.
In Lok Sabha, the Opposition demanded action against cow vigilantes.
Cyclone 'Phailin', which was to make landfall two days from now, possibly near Gopalpur in Odisha and in north Andhra Pradesh, on Thursday intensified into a severe cyclonic storm travelling slightly northwest and lying about 800 km from Paradip in Odisha.
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