‘Appoint lawyer for Vakapalli gang rape victims’

HYDERABAD: IN a relief to the victims of Vakapalli gang rape, the High Court on Friday directed the Andhra Pradesh government to appoint advocate P Trinadh Rao as special public prosecutor to argue the victims’ case before the 11th additional district sessions judge-cum-special court under the SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in Visakhapatnam against the 13 Greyhounds personnel of the elite anti-Naxalite force of AP state. The court made it clear that the process of the said appointment should be completed in a week. Justice M Seetharama Murti passed this order on a petition filed by nine tribal women, who were allegedly gang-raped, seeking direction to the AP government to appoint prosecutors to conduct the trial before the lower court in Visakhapatnam.

On August 20, 2007, 11 tribal women of Vakapalli village in Nurmati panchayat of G Madugula mandal in the Agency area of Visakhapatnam district were allegedly gang-raped by 21 Greyhounds personnel. Out of the 21 accused, eight names were deleted from the case following the High Court order in 2012. Petitioners’ counsel Vasudha Nagaraj told the court that the police had registered a case against Trinadh Rao with an intention to stymie his appointment as SPP. The judge then directed the AP government to appoint Trinadh Rao as SPP and to complete the process in a week’s time.