PMO Looking into CBI's 'Vulgar' Language Against nun: Brinda Karat

First Published: 19:34 IST(25/7/2009)
Last Updated: 19:37 IST(25/7/2009)
Original Article
Indo-Asian News Service

The Prime Minister's Office has taken serious note of the "vulgar" language used by the CBI to describe a woman accused in the murder of a Kerala nun, said CPM leader Brinda Karat.

Karat, who wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday urging that all probe agencies be asked to maintain minimum standards of respect to the dignity of women, said: "I followed up the matter. I spoke to Prithviraj Chavan (Minister of State in the PMO). He told me they are looking into it."

"Usually, the PM doesn't reply as he is very busy with other administrative matters," Karat told IANS.

"The language used in the CBI charge sheet against an accused, Sister Sephy, is obscene, vulgar, unscientific," Karat had said in a letter to the Prime Minister.

In its charge sheet filed last week in a Kochi court in the 1992 murder case of the Catholic nun, Sister Abhaya, the premier investigation agency said Abhaya had discovered Sister Sephy, an accused, in "suspicious circumstances" along with two Catholic priests, who are the other accused.

Fearing that Abhaya would "reveal" the incident to others, the accused hit her with a blunt object and after she fell unconscious threw her into a well in Kottayam. Her body was found later, says the CBI charge sheet.

Sister Sephy was subjected to medical examination by the CBI at T.D. Medical College, Alappuzha, to ascertain whether she was a virgin. The CBI used objectionable language in its report to describe her.