3 minors raped in AP despite passing of stringent laws

Sexual offences against women and children continued unabated despite Andhra Pradesh passing stringent laws to provide for harshest punishment to the guilty in such cases.

A day after the state Assembly passed two Bills to ensure death penalty for rapists and life imprisonment for those found guilty of sexual assault on children, three incidents of rapes of three minor girls surfaced in various parts of the state.

In the first case reported from Guntur town near state capital Amaravati, a five-year-old girl was reportedly raped by a 19-year-old intermediate (12th standard) student.

According to the police, the accused took the girl, living in his neighbourhood, to his house and sexually assaulted her. The victim’s mother noticed injuries on her private parts when the little girl complained of pain.

The police said they arrested Lakshma Reddy and booked him under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code and under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

A police officer said the case will be referred to the fast-track court for speedy trial and early punishment to the guilty.

Several women organisations and opposition parties staged protests demanding death penalty for the guilty. Andhra Pradesh Women’s Commission chairperson Vasireddy Padma faced angry protest by the victim’s family members when she visited the girl at the Guntur hospital. She assured them justice.

In the second case, a deaf and dumb girl was allegedly raped in Prakasam district. The police have arrested the accused, who has been identified as Siva.

In another case in Krishna district, a woman forced her 14-year-old daughter to satisfy the sexual desires of her paramour. The police arrested the woman and her paramour after the girl’s paternal grandmother lodged a complaint.

Meanwhile, international shooter Vartika Singh has written a letter in blood to union Home Minister Amit Shah, expressing her desire to execute the capital punishment to the four convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case who are facing a death sentence.

Vartika Singh told reporters on Sunday that she wanted to hang the four convicts in order to send a message that a woman can execute men if they violate her.

She further said that she wanted support for her initiative from women actors, lawmakers and other celebrities.

Reports of the imminent hanging of the four men convicted in the infamous Nirbhaya rape and murder case have been gaining grounds as the convicts are running out of legal options.

The Tihar Jail officials, where the four are presently lodged, have asked the Buxar Jail in Bihar to prepare ropes for the hanging and the Uttar Pradesh government has been asked to provide hangmen.

The Buxar Jail has expertise in making ropes suitable for hanging while Uttar Pradesh has a ‘certified’ hangman Pawan in Meerut.

Vartika Singh had made news a few months ago when Babri plaintiff Iqbal Ansari had accused her of heckling him to concede the then disputed land to Hindus. She had accused him of attempting to assault her.

Besides Singh, 42-year-old Tamil police Head Constable S. Subash Srinivasan, a police gallantry medal winner and grandson of INA veteran, has also volunteered to hang the killers of Nirbhaya in Tihar Jail. Srinivasan has also written a letter to the Tihar Jail authorities on Dec.6.

A religious preacher in Satna was arrested for sexually assaulting three minor Dalit girls on the pretext of ridding them of the malefic effects of ‘Kala Sarp Dosh’.

The 55-year-old preacher, Narayan Swarup Tripathi, was arrested in the Maihar Dehat (Nadan) police station area after being booked for sexual assault on three sisters aged 17, 15 and 14 years at their house.

A case was registered against Tripathi for sexual assault under IPC sections, besides provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and SC/ST (Atrocities Protection Act).

The shocking incident took place on Monday, when the parents of the victims requested the preacher to perform rituals to rid them of ‘Kala Sarp Dosh’ in their horoscopes.

Indo-Asian News Service