Political slugfest between TRS and BJP over Hyderabad gangrape

Naveen S Garewal

Hyderabad, June 5

What started as a crime of sexual exploitation of a minor has snowballed into a major political fight between the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party and the BJP. This happened after M. Raghunandan Rao, one of the two BJP MLAs in the Telangana Assembly, accused the ruling party of shielding the son of All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) legislator in what has come to be known as the “Jubilee Hills rape case”.

On May 28, a minor girl was allegedly gangraped by five boys inside an Innova vehicle. Two days later, on May 31, the girl’s father filed a complaint with the Jubilee Hills police station under Section 324 of the IPC (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons and means) and Sections 9 and 10 of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

After the victim made a statement before the police, the charges were altered to Sections 376D (gang rape), 320 and 323 of IPC, and Sections 5 (whoever commits gang penetrative sexual assault on a child) and 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of POCSO were also added.

The BJP has alleged that the Telangana Police, under pressure from the political masters, gave a clean chit to the MLA’s son, making a statement within hours that the AIMIM MLAs son was not involved in the crime. The AIMIM is a friendly party of the TRS, whose chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi supports TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR). To prove his statement, the BJP MLA Raghunandan Rao released pictures of the MLA’s son, forcing the TRS leaders to make statements saying “law will be allowed to take its course”.

Meanwhile, three of the five accused of gangrape are also minors. The police have arrested three accused so far, and the other two arrests are also expected on Sunday, police sources said. DCP West Joel Davis told the media that the vehicle in which the crime took place has been impounded; he said it bore a temporary registration number, so the ownership details are being verified.

Davis said that on the day of the gangrape, the girl had attended two day-time parties at Insomnia and Amnesia Pubs and was offered a ride back by the accused. One of the arrested accused, identified as Sadudin Malik, is 18 years old and has been sent to judicial custody, while the other two arrested are minors and have been sent to a juvenile home.

The BJP, which has announced Mission 2023 to take on the TRS in Telangana, has turned this act of heinous crime into a political issue. It may be mentioned that Telangana has recently seen many visits by senior BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP national president JP Nadda, who have visited Telangana on one pretext or the other. The BJP has announced a two-day national executive meeting in Hyderabad on July 2 and 3.

The gangrape of the minor teenage girl has become a political issue on two counts—that the city is unsafe for girls and women even during the day; secondly, the kin of politicians of the ruling party and their supporters indulge in crime freely without any fear. This has forced the state Home Minister Mohamood Ali to state that none will be spared irrespective of political linkages.

The two minor accused have been produced before a juvenile court for their safe custody, police have said. The two major opposition parties – BJP and Congress, have demanded that the investigation be handed over to the CBI as the state police have tried to give a clean chit to the accused even before starting the investigation.

State BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar has written an open letter to the chief minister alleging that kin of some politically influential people were being shielded due to their influence and that to come out clean, the government should hand over the investigation to the CBI.

The BJP has also sought the closing of all pubs in Telangana and demanded the summoning of an all-party meeting to discuss the law and order situation in the state. Congress Legislature Party leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka has also supported the demand for handing over the investigation to the CBI. So far, the chief minister has not reacted to the demand and is busy with fire-fighting.