Cuttack, July 17: The test identification parade of Apurba Rout, an accused in the Kandhamal nun gangrape case, would be conducted at Choudwar Circle Jail instead of Baliguda Sub-Jail, Orissa High Court ruled here today.

Based on a petition filed by the nun, Justice Indrajit Mohanty transferred venue of the parade from Baliguda in Kandhamal to Choudwar in Cuttack.

The nun had filed an appeal against the Baliguda sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM) court’s order rejecting her plea for shifting of the venue of the test identification parade to Choudwar Circle Jail. The Baliguda SDJM court ordered for the test identification parade after the Crime Branch, probing into the incident, had moved court for a parade of Rout, an accused in the case who was arrested on May 6. On June 17, the SDJM court at Baliguda rejected the nun’s plea for shifting of the location of the test identification parade, stating that the present situation in Kandhamal was peaceful.

She requested for shifting the venue from Baliguda Sub-Jail on the plea that she had found it unsafe to travel to Kandhamal.

The verdict came after the state government conceded and said that it had no objection if the venue of the parade was shifted. The high court quashed the order of the Baliguda SDJM and directed the investigating officer in the case to submit a petition for a change in the parade venue to Choudwar Circle Jail. The Cuttack SDJM court is expected to issue directions accordingly and fix a date for the parade. Earlier, the high court had allowed the nun’s petitions seeking shifting of venue from Baliguda. Consequently, three such parades were held at Choudwar Circle Jail. While 26 persons had been arrested in connection with the case, the victim identified four persons during three test identification parades conducted in 2009.

Another test identification parade had become imperative as Rout, was arrested after a gap of three years.

In March 2010, the high court transferred the trial in the nun gangrape case from Baliguda to Cuttack after she had filed a petition apprehending that a free and fair trial was not possible in Kandhamal. Consequently, the district and sessions court, Cuttack, undertook the trial.

The Catholic nun was allegedly gangraped at Nuagaon, which falls in the limits of Baliguda police station, on August 25, 2008, during a communal violence in Kandhamal district.