Jacob said the nun had lodged a case with the town police station in Chapra in this connection on Thursday.

In her complaint, the nun alleged that she was abducted by two unidentified men when she boarded an auto-rickshaw to go to the local post office from Gandhi Chowk, at 9 am on September 20.

The abductors took her to a secluded mango grove and dragged her out of the three-wheeler. They tied her hands and stripped before forcing her to drink their urine, she alleged.

Jacob, accompanied by the Inspector General of Police (Tirhut range) Ashok Kumar Gupta, rushed to Chapra to hold an on-the-spot inquiry into the allegations. "We will soon be able to bring the culprits to book," Jacob said.

Meanwhile, the Bishop's house of Bettiahin a press release said the incident had shocked the entire Christian community in north Bihar.

In Delhi, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has condemned the incident and demanded immediate investigation in the matter.

"The Commission has written to the state and district administration as well as the police asking for urgent investigation and preparation of a report. The culprits should be severely penalised for this barbaric act," NCW member Syeda Hameed said.

The Joint Women's Programme has also flayed the incident and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits and special protection for social workers throughout the country.

The JWP said in a statement that the incident was indicative of the state's total failure to protect women despite pious commitments on the part of the government to ensure women's safety.

The delay in registration of the FIR was indicative of either complicity in the crime or total non-sensitivity and inefficiency on the part of police force, it alleged and demanded athorough and time-bound investigation of the case leading to conviction of the guilty.

The JWP observed that women development workers operating in vulnerable circumstances have been subject to the worst forms of sexual violence in the country. Citing instances such as the 1992 gangrape of Bhavri Bai in which the accused were acquitted and the rape of nuns in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the women's group criticised the state governments for failing miserably, both in checking such crimes or punishing the criminals.

In Chennai, the AIADMK has condemned the alleged humiliation of the nun and wanted serious steps to be taken throughout the country to put an end to such crimes.

In a statement here, AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha said even during election time the minorities were being threatened and humiliated in barbaric ways.

"It is an atrocious crime to humiliate people, particularly women and that too nuns engaged in the service of God, in the name of religion," she said.