ADILABAD/WARANGAL: No protests, no fast track courts, no constitution of SITs and no assurances of help from the government. This sums up the developments that followed the rape and murder of two women in Kumrambheem-Asifabad and Warangal districts recently.
The protests that erupted after Disha’s rape and murder at Shamshabad were unprecedented. They were vociferous.
The demands for capital punishment for the four accused in the case were not only strident but also similar to the outrage that followed the Nirbhaya case in Delhi. In the meantime, the memories of the ghastly rape and murder of the other two sank into the depths of oblivion.
The tragedies that befell the two women in Kumrambheem-Asifabad and Warangal districts went unnoticed though they were no less heinous and horrendous.
In Kumrambheem-Asifabad, the victim was a 30-year-old Dalit woman, who sold balloons and pins. She was reportedly gang-raped and her body was found in a field at Yellapatar village — hardly two kilometres from the Lingapur police station — on November 25, just two days ahead of the veterinarian’s brutal rape and murder.
Her husband T Gopi is aggrieved at the fact that justice was denied to her, and worse still, that no one took note of the barbaric assault.
The police had arrested three persons a couple of days after the incident — but not before the Dalit organisations staged protests and demanded capital punishment for the accused. No fast track court has been constituted and no help has been offered to the family.
Further, no one knows how foolproof the charge sheet will be when it is finally filed in the court. “No elected representatives visited us. A similar atrocity in Hyderabad grabbed national attention and became a subject of heated discussion in the Parliament,” Gopi rues.
A day after the incident - November 26 - Dalits staged a three-hour rasta-roko at Khanapur in Nirmal district and in Jainoor mandal in Asifabad district. They called for a bandh to protest the gruesome crime. The following day, the police arrested the accused SK Babu, SK Shabouddin and SK Mukdham and sent them on judicial remand. The Dalits continued their agitation subsequently for capital punishment. On December 3 and 4, MRPS founder Manda Krishna Madiga visited the village where her body was found.
Superintendent of Police P Malla reddy said that the police would file a petition in the court for custody on Friday and would seek constitution of a fast-track court for speedy adjudication of the case.
Warangal tragedy
In Warangal, the victim was a 19-year-old girl, whose father ran a vegetable shop in the town. The man who allegedly raped and killed her was someone she was in love with. P Sai Goud brutally murdered her on her birthday, after raping her. The protests lasted for about a day. She was forgotten, and subsequently, Disha’s tragedy took the centre stage.
Sai Goud was a final-year degree student. He was reportedly involved with the victim romantically. On her birthday, she convinced her parents that she was going to the Bhadrakali temple, but met Sai Goud in Kazipet instead. He took her on a car to an abandoned site near Station Ghanpur, where he raped and murdered her. He abandoned her body near her house and fled the scene.
After her body was found, the police acted swiftly and arrested him. Warangal police commissioner V Ravinder said the police would file a charge-sheet in the court as early as possible. He is confident that the police will be able to build a water-tight case against the accused and ensure that he gets stringent punishment.
The story ends there as no one has the time to bother about the family of the victim, who have been left in a lurch.
Student makes abusive comments on Disha, arrested
An Intermediate student from Guntur, identified as Kakumanu Amarnath, who had allegedly posted abusive comments on Facebook against the rape and murder victim Disha, was arrested by the cybercrime wing of Rachakonda police on Thursday.
He had earlier become friends with a person by the name ‘Smiley Nani’ on Facebook. On Nov 29 2019, after the heinous incident, Smiley Nani had shared vulgar comments on Facebook messenger.
Reportedly inspired by this, Amarnath had also posted abusive content. However, as the post went viral, he deleted his Facebook account
DGP orders daniel Shravan’s arrest
Director-General of Police (DGP) Mahender Reddy reportedly instructed the cyber crime police to nab Daniel Shravan, the filmmaker who had allegedly posted vulgar remarks on the rape and murder of the Hyderabad vet.
The police are yet to ascertain his whereabouts. However, the investigating officials believe that he had posted the comments from the USA. Following directions from the DGP’s office, the case was given high priority.
The Hyderabad CCS police have identified the parents of Daniel Shravan, who work for the government. Daniel’s father is a joint-director level officer in Telangana or Andhra Pradesh State government, police said.
They are likely to inquire with his parents on the whereabouts of Daniel. They are also planning to issue a lookout circular (LOC) against the accused.