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A 46-year-old woman was stripped and assaulted following a dispute over water supply in a village in Nagarpalem of Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh. The police have arrested three accused, Mallela Venkata Ramana Murthy, Sampurna and Tirupati Durga, in connection with the case. According to reports, Mallela Venkata Ramana Murthy is the secretary of 21 Ward in Guntur and a member of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Speaking to TNM, Guntur Superintendent of Police (SP) Vakul Jindal said that the accused and the victim were neighbours. “The borewell outside the accused’s house was damaged once the municipality started drainage expansion works. When the accused tried to install the borewell again, the victim objected,” he said. The victim was dragged out of her house and attacked by three people.
The victim approached the Nagarpalem police, and an FIR was registered under Sections 331(6) (house trespass by night), 74 (using criminal force against a woman to outrage her modesty), 79 (using word, sound, gesture, or act to insult a woman's modesty), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 118(1) (voluntarily causing hurt using dangerous weapons) read with Section 3(5) (joint criminal liability) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu condemned the incident. “The humiliation of any woman is completely unacceptable and has no place in our society. I have ordered immediate and stringent action. No individual will receive protection on account of political affiliation,” he said.
Andhra Pradesh Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Nara Lokesh said that Mallela Venkata Ramana has been suspended from all party posts.