NEW DELHI: A court convicted three men Friday over the gangrape of a nun during a bout of anti-Christian violence in 2008 in eastern India that killed at least 35 people, reports said.

The Catholic nun was sexually assaulted by rioters on August 25, 2008, days after the murder of a Hindu priest that sparked revenge Hindu attacks on the Christian community in coastal Orissa state.

A district court in Cuttack handed out the convictions which followed a trial that began in 2010, the Press Trust of India national news agency reported.

One of the accused was found guilty of rape while two others were convicted of “outraging the modesty of a woman”, PTI said.

Six others were acquitted for lack of evidence, it said.

The men would be sentenced at a later date, the news agency said.

The nun had recounted how she was dragged to a burnt-out Christian home in Kandhamal district where she was raped and beaten with sticks before being paraded semi-naked in the streets.

Mobs attacked dozens of churches, prayer halls and Catholic-run schools and homes during the riots in the state. Nearly 50,000 people were reported to have been displaced by the rioting.