After Hyderabad, another murder after gang-rape reported from Andhra

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, December 3

Even as the nation protests against the gang-rape and murder of a veterinary doctor in Hyderabad, another incident of gang-rape has come from the neighbouring Telugu state of Andhra Pradesh where a 50-year-old woman was gang-raped and murdered in the East Godavari district, bordering Telangana.

The incident has been reported from Vemavaram village of East Godavari district where three men saw the victim alone at home and committed the crime.

Superintendent of Police Adnan Nayeem Asmi said one of the suspects had been arrested and the police were on the lookout for two others.

After visiting the scene of the crime he figured out that the lady’s husband and son had died, while her daughter lives in Hyderabad. She had been living alone and the fact was known to the three accused, who planned the crime, he said.

After the incident, Andhra Pradesh Home Minister M Sucharita reviewed the arrangements to reach out to women in distress.

She also made a surprise visit to an all-woman police station in the Guntur district after she received complaints about the laxity on part of the police in responding to distress calls.

Meanwhile, the Telangana Police have issued notices to many media houses and television channels for violating the Supreme Court directive on keeping the name of rape victims’ secret.

The name of the veterinary doctor from Hyderabad was printed by media and her pictures printed on posters and banners seeking justice for her.

The Cyberabad police, probing the case issued notices under Section 149 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) asking them to stop telecasting such content.

“Some TV news channels and social media users are continuously telecasting and posting photos of the victim, the accused and also the documents related to the investigation. We are talking to such TV channels and issued notices asking them to stop telecasting it and also spoke to (representatives of) social media companies to delete such content from their platforms,” the police have said.

The four men, all lorry workers, aged between 20 and 24, were arrested on November 29 for allegedly raping and killing the woman by smothering her and later burning her body.

They were sent to judicial custody for 14 days and are presently lodged in solitary confinement in high-security cells in the Cherlapally Central Prison.

The Cyberabad police has asked them not to use the name of the victim and suggested hashtag “#JusticeforDisha” be used in social media.