Cuttack, Dec. 2: The state government today conceded in Orissa High Court that Baliguda in Kandhamal would not be a safe place for conducting the test identification (TI) parade for the alleged rape of a 29-year-old nun during communal violence on August 25.

The single-judge bench of Justice B.K. Patel was hearing the nun’s writ petition seeking direction to shift the venue of TI parade from Kandhamal.

The nun’s counsel, June Choudhury, had sought permission for the test identification parade to be held in “New Delhi or any other place in Orissa, preferably Bhubaneswar or Cuttack”.

Claiming that the victim was currently undergoing trauma and spiritual counselling, Choudhury said the nun was too sick to travel to Kandhamal and expressed apprehensions of “danger to her (nun) life” in the strife-torn district.

The state counsel, J.N. Mohanty, conceded saying “the investigating agency also feels that Baliguda is now not safe for conducting the test identification parade”.

He however, maintained that there was no infirmity in the order of the court of the Baliguda sub-divisional judicial magistrate that had rejected a petition for shifting the venue of the TI parade.

Earlier, the nun had filed a petition before the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate at Baliguda seeking more time and for shifting the venue of the test identification parade to New Delhi. But it had rejected her plea on November 21.

Sub-divisional judicial magistrate Dolagovinda Barik had further asked the crime branch to submit a final form (status of investigation and remand) in the case by November 24 and posted hearing on the case of the nun to December 6. The nun had then filed the writ petition invoking the inherent powers of the high court under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The petition said she is still “suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder”.

The petition had further alleged that “many criminal elements are roaming free in the area and if she goes to Baliguda court, there is reasonable chance of danger to her life”.