In an outrageous act of victim shaming, Telangana Home Minister Mohammad Mahmood Ali on Friday said the deceased women Dr Preeti Reddy (name changed), who was brutally raped and murdered, should have called the police first and questioned the rationale of the victim’s call to her sister.
Speaking to the media, Mohammad Mahmood Ali, Telangana Home Minister said the deceased woman who was a doctor should have dialled the emergency police contact first rather than contacting her sister.
“She is a doctor, she is educated. Why did she call her sister first? She should have called 100 first,” said Ali.
#NewsAlert – She is a doctor, she is educated. Why did she call her sister first? She should have called 100 first: Mohammad Mahmood Ali, Telangana Home Minister@RishikaSadam with details.#RageAgainstRape pic.twitter.com/9MaBskEBCI
— News18 (@CNNnews18) November 29, 2019
Ali’s comments have sparked massive outrage on social media.
Meanwhile, serious questions are being raised against the conduct of Telangana police after the parents of the deceased woman accused the police of willfully neglecting their complaint. Reportedly, the police allegedly disbelieved the parents of Preeti Reddy when they complained about missing daughter. Reddy’s parents have stated to media that when they insisted that their daughter might be in trouble, the police officer speaking to them had stated that their daughter must have eloped with someone.
The family members said that they first approached the RGIA police station from where they were directed to go to Shamshabad police station. Reportedly, the policemen had reportedly said that the area in which crime was committed was not under their jurisdiction.
On Wednesday night, a 27-year-old veterinarian Dr Preeti Reddy (name changed) was brutally raped and murdered and her body was set ablaze on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Four people have been reportedly arrested in connection with the case.
According to the reports, the four accused had pre-planned the crime after they had noticed that the victim had parked her two-wheeler at the Tondupally toll plaza. The accused assumed that the lady would come to pick it up later in the evening. The accused then deflated the tyre.
As Preeti Reddy was returning home from work a little after 8 pm to pick her vehicle, she noticed a flat tyre. She immediately called her sister, who suggested that she leave her two-wheeler at the toll plaza and take a cab home. Before she could, two men approached her, who offered to take her vehicle for repair.
The woman was allegedly ambushed and dragged into the bushes by the accused barely 50 metres from Tondupally toll plaza behind a line of trucks that was parked near the road. Her charred body was found under an underpass on Thursday morning.
According to police, the accused took her body to an under-construction bridge a few kilometres away and set it on fire. The police stated that the victim’s innerwear and some other objects including an alcohol bottle found around 100 metres from the spot led them to believe she was sexually assaulted before being killed.
The Telangana police have also confirmed that Preeti Reddy was kidnapped and gang-raped. The police confirmed that a lorry driver named Mohammad Pasha from Narayanpet in Mahababub Nagar district was allegedly the main suspect. Media reports are now saying that rape has been confirmed in post mortem analysis.
The other accused, identified as Naveen from Gudigandla, cleaner Kesavulu, and an assistant named Siva have also been arrested. The incident has sparked massive outrage among the public over the never-ending cases of sexual violence against women.
