Telangana: Cops tried to broker compromise in gang-rape case, says activist

HYDERABAD: All-India convener of Progressive Organisation for Women (PoW) V Sandhya on Sunday alleged that the police have tried to strike a compromise between the families of the 17-year-old gang rape victim and the accused on May 29, when the victim’s father initially lodged a formal complaint.The case didn’t see the light for three to four days as the police were trying to get the families of the victim and the affluent accused to reach a compromise, the women’s rights activist alleged. 

Speaking to Express, Sandhya said that the matter came to light only when one of the accused, who recorded the intimate moments between the girl and another in a Mercedes Benz car, circulated the video clip on May 30 in a bid to pressurise the victim’s family.

Sandhya also alleged that while the incident occurred on May 28, the victim’s father went to meet West Zone DCP on May 29, a day after the incident. “On receipt of the complaint, the DCP called the families of the accused and tried to strike a compromise. However, one of the accused, who is a major, had put one of the intimate videos into circulation. It was then the attempts for compromise were decimated,” she alleged

Expressing anguish, Sandhya said that the police acted in a “highly irresponsible” manner by trying to hush up the case, while the BJP is trying to bring a communal angle into the case. Questioning the integrity of BJP MLA Raghunandan Rao, she said, “If he doesn’t have faith in investigation officers, he should have approached Hyderabad Police Commissioner or he should have taken acknowledgement or he should have submitted (the proof the MLA claims to possess) in court.”

Responding to Sandhya’s objections, Raghunandan Rao said, “Where were these rights activists when we are fighting for all these days. Being an advocate and a legislator, I know what to do and what not to. For her information, the girl is not a Hindu, and we are fighting to bring the guilty to justice.”

Meanwhile, Additional Commissioner of Police DS Chauhan, who is also the in-charge Commissioner of Police, and West Zone DCP Joel Davis refuted Sandhya’s allegations, describing them as “completely baseless, false, disparaging, and far from truth. No such thing as any attempt to compromise took place.”