ICC Note:
A court in Chhattisgarh, India has acquitted two men accused of raping a nun in 2015. According to the court, there was a “lack of evidence” to convict the accused. Local Christians claim the police botched the investigation which ultimately led to the acquittals. Crimes against religious minorities often go unpunished in India. This, coupled with the religiously divisive rhetoric used by ultra Hindu nationalists, has caused a dramatic increase in the number of attacks on Christians in India.  
01/06/2017 India (Asia News) – A court in Chhattisgarh has acquitted two young men accused of the rape of a Catholic nun for “lack of evidence”.  The nun was drugged and abused during the night between 19 and 20 June 2015 at Christ Sahaya Kendra (Christ Support Centre) of Raipur. The 19 year old and 25 year old accused were released by the court because Judge Nidhi Sharma said not enough evidence was collected against them.
In all likelihood, the investigations were compromised beyond repair by police, who after the discovery of the nun did not close off the crime scene and did not carry out a proper forensic investigation, such as lifting evidence of the attackers from the victim’s body.
The nun, now 48, courageously told her terrible story. Two masked men broke into her room at the medical center at around 1: 30 am. When she asked them if they wanted money, they replied: “We want something more.” At that point one of them blocked her, while the other forced her to ingest the drugs and gagged her with a rag. Then the attackers tied her to the bed with her sari and used a scarf to tie her hands, before taking turns to rape her.
The nun, originally from Kerala, was alone at the time of the attack. She was found the next day in an unconscious state by her superior, worried about not having received any reply to her calls.
The state representatives of Congress and the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum have called the incident a “systematic attack against minorities in the State”. For its part, the Indian Bishops’ Conference (CBCI) has reported that such incidents raise serious questions about the safety and protection of minorities in India.
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