Invoke Nirbhaya Act on rape accused: AP deputy CM

Rajahmundry (AP), Jun 20:

Deputy Chief Minister N Chinna Rajappa today directed the Rajahmundry Urban Superintendent of Police of East Godavari district to invoke the stringent

Act on the accused who allegedly raped a minor girl and a married women in two separate incidents.

After hearing reports of the rapes, Rajappa who was in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly today, telephoned Rajahmundry Urban Superintendent of Police Ravikumar Murthy, and directed him to conduct a thorough and immediate enquiry on the incidents and arrest of the accused.

A minor girl, who worked as a farm labourer at Thorredu village, was allegedly raped by 25-year-old M Venu in Rajanagaram mandal yesterday when she was returning home after purchasing curd from a local shop, police said. Venu forcibly took the girl away on his bicycle and sexually assaulted her after taking her into an isolated hut, Rajanagarm Circle Inspector Naga Murali said.

The girl later managed to reach home and narrated the ordeal to her parents following which they lodged a complaint against Venu, he said, adding that the accused is on the run and a search is on to nab him. In another incident, a married woman was allegedly gang-raped by two persons in Lala Chervu area of Rajanagaram mandal after she left home following a quarrel with her husband and reached the local railway station in the wee hours today.

There she boarded an auto rickshaw being driven by a man allegedly in an inebriated state. The driver along with another person took her to a deserted place on the roadside and gang-raped her. The woman later lodged a complaint and has now been admitted to a hospital for medical examination. The Deputy Chief Minister, who is also in charge of Home Department, said stringent action will be initiated on the person who indulge in such crimes. He also directed the police take all necessary steps to stop atrocities against women.

PTI