Hyderabad: Even as Andhra Pradesh legislative Assembly on Friday passed a radical law providing for hanging of rapists, another incident of rape of a five-year-old girl has rocked the state.
The state assembly passed the AP Criminal Law (amendment) Act 2019 providing for capital punishment to the convicts of rape and gang rape, was moved by Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy government soon after a horrifying incident of gang rape and killing of veterinary doctor on the outskirts of Hyderabad about a fortnight ago.
While the new strict law, under which the probe and trial will have to be completed in three weeks, was hailed by the masses and gave a hope of bringing the spiralling graph of serious crimes against women, an incident of rape of a minor girl came to light in Guntur district, neighbouring the state capital Amaravati.
District police arrested a junior college student Lakshman Reddy in Ramireddy Nagar area for allegedly raping the five-year-old daughter of his neighbour.
The incident came to light after the girl complained of stomach pain. When her parents took her to a doctor, it was found she had fallen victim to a sexual predator. Swinging into action, Guntur police arrested the youth who lived on the ground floor of the same house in which the victim’s family lived on the first floor.
The youth was being questioned. Earlier in Guntur a rickshaw-puller had raped a young girl and even as the police were searching for him he allegedly committed suicide by hanging from a tree.
Under the new law, police will complete the investigation of a rape case in a week’s time and a fast track court will complete the trial in another two week. In serious crimes against the women the convicts can be awarded death sentence by the court.
Moving the bill, known as ‘Disha Bill’ after the victim of gang rape in Hyderabad, Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy said his government was very serious to curb the crimes against women and children. “Crime against women and children were increasing and sending children out had become a nightmare for the parents. To stop serious crimes, radical steps are needed”, he told the House.
The Disha rape incident in Hyderabad has left the entire country shocked and the people were demanding that the perpetrators of such offences should be punished immediately, Jagan said.
