Bhubaneswar: Even as Anjana Mishra, the victim of Barang gangrape, had said in her first reaction after the arrest of the prime accused Biban that he must be hanged, she has admitted that it would be difficult on her part to recognise him after 22 years.
“I can slightly recall his face. Recollecting the 22-year-old horrific trauma is painful, but I will try my best to identify him during the test identification (TI) parade by the police,” she said, according to a TOI report.
She further said she expected the CBI to expedite the trial and ensure capital punishment or life imprisonment for Biban. “Had the CBI done 20 years back what the commissionerate police has done now, I would have got justice by now,” she said.
She also raised several questions regarding the delay and inability of CBI to trace the main accused in the case so long. “Who had supported him to flee and evade arrest? How could he settle in Maharashtra with a fake identity? Why was there no attempt to trace him?,” asked the estranged wife of a retired officer of Indian Forest Service (IFS).
Also Read: Odisha: Prime Accused in Anjana Mishra Gangrape Case Nabbed After 22 Years
It may be noted that Anjana was waylaid by Bibekananda Biswal alias Biban, Pradip Sahu alias Padia, and and Tuna Mohanty near Baranga on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar on the intervening night of January 9-10 in 1999 while she was on her way to Cuttack along with a journalist-friend in a car and raped her.
Padia was the first to be arrested in the case and Anjana identified him on January 15. In 2002, the Khurda District Sessions judge convicted him and Tuna Mohanty and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The High Court in 2010 had upheld the verdict.
The CBI, which was entrusted by the Orissa High Court to investigate the case, had maintained that the trio had raped her.
Also Read: ‘Hang Biban Till Death’: Anjana Mishra Reacts To Arrest Of Odisha Gangarape Accused
