HYDERABAD: What began as a moment of teenage impulse ended in a year of anguish for two young lives — one who ran from home and another who was branded an offender. A 20-year-old YouTuber and influencer, Kuruva Raju, who spent over a year facing charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, was acquitted by the Rangareddy court after it surfaced that he had not abducted the girl but had brought her home.
It began on September 4, 2024, when a 16-year-old girl left her house in anger after a quarrel with her parents. The reason for the quarrel? She was suspected of talking to strangers. She was reprimanded and her phone confiscated.
One day, she called Raju from her grandmother’s phone, crying, saying she could not stay at home any longer. Raju tried to reason with her, telling her “not to do anything foolish.” She didn’t listen, and the arguments with her parents became increasingly heated.
Finally, she decided that enough was enough and left home.She reached Charminar, borrowed a stranger’s phone, and pleaded with Raju to meet her.
The girl’s mother panicked. She called Raju and asked if the girl was with him. Raju told her that he knew where she was and assured her that he would bring her back. However, the mother suspected that it was Raju who had abducted her daughter. She told the police her daughter had gone missing.
Asked if she suspected someone, she promptly named Raju — the same youth her daughter was infatuated with. Around the same time, Raju reached Charminar, persuaded the girl to return, and dropped her home within hours. But initially, the girl’s parents did not believe his version that he had merely rescued her. After the FIR was filed, Nagole police booked Raju for kidnapping and sexual harassment of a minor.
“He was the one who rescued her, yet he lived as if guilty,” said a friend outside court after the verdict.