While the nation continues to be shaken by the gang rape of a 17-year-old girl in the Jubliee Hill area in Hyderabad, four more recent rape incidents have come to light in Telangana’s capital city. All these cases came to the fore on Sunday, June 5, after the Telangana police divulged the details of these cases. In three of these four cases, the victim is a minor.
On May 31, two men sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl while she was on her way to her grandmother’s house. The incident came to light when the girl reportedly went missing on the day of the assault. The police patrol found her in the Sultanshahi area on June 1.
According to reports, the driver of the cab she had boarded took the minor to his friend’s house in Kondurg in Ranga Reddy district in Telangana where both of them sexually assaulted her. The accused dropped her off the next morning. Police arrested both the accused who were identified as Shaik Kaleem Ali and Mohd Luqman Ahmed Yazdani.
In the second case, 21-year-old Mohd Sufyan reportedly asked a girl, who worked at a retail store, to accompany him to his house on May 31, where he raped her. The girl subsequently complained of a stomach ache after which a complaint was registered against the accused. Eventually, Sufyan was arrested by the Kala Patthar police.
The third case which came to the fore on Monday was reported at the Ramgopalpet Police station in Secunderabad. According to Ramgopalpet inspector Saidulu, in this case, a 17-year-old girl was lured and raped by a 23-year-old person.
“The accused was in touch with the victim for the past few months and on April 22 has called the victim to celebrate his friend’s birthday at Tank bund, Hyderabad. After the victim arrived at Tank bund, accused Suresh took the victim in a car to Necklace road to bring the cake. Meanwhile, the accused stopped the car at an isolated place and raped her. After receiving the complaint a case was registered U/S 376 IPC, 3 and 4 of POCSO Act and arrested the accused named Suresh. He was produced in the court,” said the police official on Monday, June 6.
The fourth case was reported at the Rajendernagar Police station limit in Hyderabad. In this case, too, a minor girl was sexually assaulted by a juvenile at a movie theatre a month ago.
“We have received a complaint from a minor girl stating that she was lured and raped by a minor boy. The juvenile boy was in touch with the victim girl for the past few months and asked her to come along with him to watch a movie. The victim agreed and came to a Mall along with him in RanjenderNagar police station limits, later the boy raped the minor girl inside the theatre a month ago. In this regard, a case has been registered under rape and other relevant section of the POCSO act on the Juvenile. He was produced before the court and sent to observation home yesterday,” Rajendernagar Circle Inspector Kankaiah informed.
These cases come on the heels of a 17-year-old girl’s rape by youths belonging to the families of AIMIM and KCR’s party leaders. The minor girl was gang-raped in a car by five youths, including three minors, when she was returning home after a party in the Jubilee Hills area of Hyderabad on May 28. While four accused have been arrested, the police are still trying to nab the fifth accused- Umair Khan (18), the nephew of an AIMIM leader, who is still at large.
Earlier in the day, OpIndia reported how the politically influential families of the five accused involved are using their political clout and influence to pressurise the victim’s family to drop charges against the accused.
Earlier, OpIndia had also reported how the Hyderabad police had revealed that the accused had tried to destroy evidence of the crime by cleaning the white Innova car, in which the 17-year-old girl was raped. However, the police team found some crucial evidence from the car, and a detailed forensics report is awaited.
In another important development, reports emerged suggesting that the accused had misbehaved with another minor girl in the same pub on the same day, where the gang-rape victim had gone to attend a party on May 28.
Meanwhile, the police’s inability to nab the fifth accused Umair Khan, despite the fact that nine days had gone since the crime, has sparked major protests in Hyderabad.
