Andhra horror: Odisha teen gang raped for days in Vizag, 11 accused arrested
A 16-year-old girl from Odisha, who worked as a house help in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam, was allegedly gang raped by 12 people, of which 11 have been arrested, the police said on Tuesday.
The arrested accused were sent to judicial custody till January 12 while the police are looking for the remaining two accused.“A minor girl was gang raped by her boyfriend and his friend, and when she tried to end her life in RK Beach, she was approached by photographers who raped her for days before dropping her in Odisha. As soon as the incident came to light, the police department arrested all the accused, except two,” the Andhra Pradesh Police said in a statement.
According to the police, the girl came to Visakhapatnam nine months ago from Odisha. She went missing on December 17 and a day later, her father filed a missing person’s complaint in Visakhapatnam.
On December 23, the girl’s father received a call from the Odisha Police about her whereabouts. The police team, along with the father, brought the girl back to Visakhapatnam on December 25.
The girl, grappling with mental trauma, disclosed the incident to her parents on December 31, police said. The police recorded her statement, revealing that 12 people had raped her on different dates at various lodges.
“When the police asked her parents to bring her the next day for questioning, they didn’t turn up and the victim didn’t reveal any information regarding the incident even after they went to her house. But she came to the station on December 31 along with her parents and disclosed that she went with her friend Imran (from Jharkhand) and his friend Shoaib on her birthday when she was forced to have intercourse with them in a lodge near RK Beach. Later, the duo dropped the girl at her workplace in the morning,” the Andhra police said in the release.
The girl then went to the beach where she met some photographers, identified as Raju, Harish, Nagendra, and Gopi, who pretended to give her “moral strength”. They took her to a lodge and gang raped her, police said.
Police also said that six more accused — Srinu, Ashok, Naresh, Thambe, Eswar, and Praveen — joined them in assaulting the girl till December 22.
On December 23, she was dropped off by one of the accused near a police station in Odisha with Rs 200 in hand. She was eventually provided shelter by police personnel who alerted her parents.
The police registered an FIR under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and other relevant sections. After an operation was launched, with teams deployed to Jharkhand and various locations in Visakhapatnam, the police arrested 11 accused.
OPPOSITION SLAMS ANDHRA GOVERNMENT
Both Congress and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) slammed the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) government for failing to protect women in the state.
Condemning the incident in Visakhapatnam, TDP National General Secretary Nara Lokesh criticised the Andhra Pradesh government for failing to maintain law and order.
Taking to X, the TDP leader described the incident as a “mirror reflecting the horrifying situation” in the state. The TDP leader expressed that YSRCP leaders have become the bane of peaceful Visakhapatnam.
