Tribal woman raped in Telangana, face smashed

Naveen S Garewal

Hyderabad, May 11

A tribal woman was raped, and her face smashed as she tried to call for help, leaving her dead. The incident took place in Yadadri Bhongir district’s Choutuppal block on Monday night. The crime site is about 40 km from Hyderabad.

Police said the woman’s husband worked as a night watchman, so the 23-year-old tribal woman was alone at home. Finding her vulnerable, a 25-year-old brick kiln worker, assaulted and raped her.

The accused first hit the woman with a log, after which she fell unconscious he raped her. He then dragged her to a nearby secluded place and raped her again. On regaining consciousness, the woman tried to call for help. But fearing being discovered, he smashed her face, killing her.

Police assistant commissioner N Uday Reddy told the local media that the tribal woman and her husband hailed from a tribal hamlet of Nagarkurnool district and had moved to the area a few months ago in search of a job.

Post-mortem report said the woman had been raped twice and had grievous injuries on her face and head. When the woman was discovered, she was rushed to the hospital, where the doctors declared her dead.

The police arrested the accused with the help of a dog squad. During interrogation, he confessed to the crime, police said. The man was produced in court and charged under Sections 376 (rape), 392 (robbery) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code besides the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. He has been remanded in judicial custody.

The couple was living at Toopranpet village, where during the day, the husband also worked as a security guard at a nearby engineering college and at night worked as a night watchman.

The police recovered the gold ‘mangal sutra’ and silver anklets from the woman’s body that the man took away after raping her. The victim’s husband returned home at around 8 pm on Monday night and started a search after finding his wife missing. Her body was found around in a pool of blood hours later.

Reddy said the post-mortem report revealed that she was raped twice and sustained grievous injuries on her head.