In another shocking case of gender-driven violence, a 26-year-old man kidnapped a tribal woman from Salpabandathanda in Dharpallymandal and allegedly raped her in Dubbak village of Telangana. According to sources, Nagesh of Dubbak village in the same mandal kidnapped the 22-year-old tribal woman on Saturday evening in a car, while the victim was grazing cattle on the outskirts of the village.He took the victim to an isolated area in Sarangapur village where he raped her.
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Media reports state that tive people were arrested for the gangrape and assault of a tribal woman on the outskirts of Hyderabad, while nine others were held for trying to coerce the survivor and her husband to “settle” the case out of court.
This is not the only such case pointing to the vulnerabilities faced by women who are part of the labour force. Only last week, media reports said that the woman, a migrant labourer from Nagarkurnool district, was gang-raped at a farmhouse in Pahadi Shareef on the outskirts of Hyderabad for demanding her salary from the owner of a poultry farm. The main accused, M. Prashant Reddy, had employed the woman and her husband with a promised salary of Rs 15,000 but stopped paying them after two months. The husband was also physically assaulted by the accused, according to reports.
It was at this stage, it is reported that the couple began feeding the poultry less and sold the feed to other farms to make money. After Prashant Reddy became aware of this, he misled the couple and took them to a farmhouse around two weeks ago. The 30-year-old woman and her husband were locked up in separate rooms. While the woman was sexually and physically assaulted by five men, her husband was also physically assaulted.The woman said that the assault continued for two days, after which she and her husband were left at the farmhouse. They tried to escape on September 21, but the accused found them and threatened to kill them if they went to the police.
The couple managed to escape on September 26 and filed a police complaint. On September 28, media reports quoted LB Nagar deputy commissioner of police Sunpreet Singh as saying that cases under charges of gangrape and relevant Sections of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act were registered against the accused, who were absconding.
On Sunday, the five accused were held by police. Nine other “village elders” who tried to “settle” the case by offering the survivor and her husband Rs 2.5 lakh were also held by the police.
The Rachakonda police in Hyderabad arrested five people on Sunday for the alleged gang-rape of a tribal woman and the physical assault of her husband, tied up in an adjacent room, at a poultry farm last week. The main accused are Mucha Prasanth Reddy (30), Mucha Anil Reddy (26), R. Bharath (26), Devarshetty Pavan Kumar (29) and C. Hanmanthu (25).
The nine others who have been held are Ravinder, Venkat Reddy, Jatavath Ravinder, Charalapally Yadaiah, Jarpula Raju, Baygari Suresh, Anugu Lokesh, Vijay Kumar and Mucha Janardhan Reddy, Another person accused of trying to coerce a settlement, Chandrashekar Reddy, is absconding according to news reports.
“The [ten ‘villager elders’] took the survivor and her husband to Harshaguda village and held a panchayat to compromise the issue and they took signatures by forcibly threatening, wrongfully confining and extorting the survivors,” a press release issued by the police said.
While the main accused have been arrested under charges of gangrape and sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the remaining ten accused have been held under charges such as kidnapping, wrongful confinement and criminal intimidation among others.
Another tribal woman raped
In an unrelated case, another tribal woman was sexually assaulted in Telangana on Saturday evening. According to reports, a 26-year-old man kidnapped a tribal woman from Salpabandathanda in Nizamabad district, around 200 km from Hyderabad, and allegedly raped her.
The accused was identified as Nagesh of Dubbak village. He kidnapped a 22-year-old tribal woman on Saturday evening in a car while she was grazing cattle. He took the survivor to an isolated area and sexually assaulted her.
After the woman’s father lodged a complaint, the police identified the accused using CCTV footage. Nagesh was taken into custody and has been charged with kidnap and rape.