NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Indrajit Ray will see Anjana in high court

M I Khan in Bhubaneswar

Indrajit Ray, the former advocate general of Orissa who has been sentenced by a sessions court to three year's rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 5,000 in the Anjana Mishra rape case, plans to move the high court.

Ray was reluctant to comment on the Bhubaneswar court judgment, which found him guilty under sections 376 and 511of the Indian Penal Code.

Sources close to him said he was convinced till the last that the case against him was weak, and he would get off.

"Ray is hoping against hope that one day he will cleared of this case," sources said.

Chief Judicial Magistrate and Assistant Sessions Judge in the designated Central Bureau of Investigation court Srikant Nayak, in his 44 page judgment, noted the accused intended to commit the rape and had made elaborate preparations for it.

"He took the victim to the bedroom while none of the family members were present ,his preparation to commit the offence is complete and he tried to gain the sympathy and the confidence of the victim," the judge said.

At the time of the offence, the judgment continued, Ray was completely naked and lay over the victim, which amounts to attempt to commit rape.

The prosecution had said that Ray invited Anjana Mishra, the estranged wife of India Forest Service officer Subhas Mishra, to discuss their divorce on July 11,1997, to his office-cum-residence at Cuttack.

Mishra lunched with Ray. She details the chain of events that followed in her first information report:

She was called to the bedroom. Ray tried to persuade her to compromise with her husband, at which Mishra became angry. Then Ray pounced on her and attempted to rape her. After much struggle, she managed to free herself, slapped Ray and left the bedroom.

The next day she reported the matter to deputy inspector general of police Surendranath Swain, after being persuaded by a woman social activist. She brought the matter to former chief minister J B Patnaik's notice on July 14.

Later, she filed an FIR at the Cantonment police station. A case was registered on July 19. Following that, several public interest petitions were filed in the Orissa high court.

However, it was only after Giridhar Gamang become chief minister that a CBI probe was ordered.

RELATED REPORT
'A woman can fight and get justice if she is determined'

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report