Hyderabad: A 17-year-old was allegedly raped by a group of young men who offered to drop her home after a party at an upscale pub in Hyderabad last week. The minor was allegedly approached by the accused while she was partying with friends last Saturday.
Addressing the press Friday, Hyderabad West Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police, Joel Davis, said that the five accused in the case have been identified, one of whom is the minor son of a member of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party in the state.
While there have been talks of an MLA’s son being also involved in the alleged rape, Davis said no evidence has been found against him yet.
According to Davis, based on the 17-year-old’s statement, analysis of CCTV footage recovered from the area, call detail record (CDR) analysis and other evidence gathered, five accused have been identified, of which three were minors. One of the adult accused, Shahuddin Malik, has already been arrested.
“There is no evidence against the said MLA’s son yet, but the other influential person (the TRS leader), yes, we have information about his son being involved. He is a juvenile and (we) cannot reveal his details. He will be picked up tomorrow,” Davis said Friday.
According to Davis the minors accused in the case will be taken into custody during the day Saturday, in keeping the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.
He added: “We will collect more evidence and no matter how influential the family of accused, they will be arrested.”
Also read: India still conservative, girls don’t indulge in carnal activities just for fun: MP HC judge
Sequence of events
According to the FIR registered in the case, and accessed by ThePrint, the 17-year-old had gone to a party hosted by her friends at the pub last week, where she was approached by the accused, who offered to drop her home. At 5.30 pm last Saturday, the minor left the pub with a “few guys in a red Mercedes”, followed by an Innova, states the FIR.
According to Davis the minor was allegedly raped in the Innova at an isolated place, not too far from the limits of the upscale area where the pub is located. The vehicles allegedly used by the accused have been seized by police.
The DCP also claimed that neither the 17-year-old, nor the accused, were in an inebriated state at the time of the alleged crime, though police is probing if the pub served liquor to the minors.
CCTV footage from outside the pub obtained by the police (and accessed by ThePrint), shows the minor walking outside the pub premises with the accused.
Three days after the alleged rape, a complaint was registered by the 17-year-old’s father at Hyderabad’s Jubilee Hills police station on 31 May, alleging, “they (the accused) misbehaved with my daughter and even inflicted minor injuries over her neck. Since then my daughter is in deep shock and unable to disclose the things exactly”.
Following the complaint, “the victim was sent for a medical examination with women police officers and teams from Bharosa Centre (a support centre for women and children run by the state women and child welfare department), where she confessed that she had been sexually assaulted by the accused,” said A. Ramesh, additional inspector at the Jubilee Hills police station.
The medical examination also confirmed rape, he added.
While the initial FIR, based on the father’s complaint, was registered under sections 354 (outraging a woman’s modesty) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, it was later altered to include rape, Ramesh said.
(This copy has been updated with additional information)
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
Also read: A rape forgotten—50 years ago, Mathura was denied justice. Then society betrayed her