The gruesome incident where a nine-month-girl was raped by a man last month in Hanamkonda, prompted the village gram panchayat of Gudimadidala in Sangareddy district to pass a unanimous resolution to permanently banish sexual predators from the village.
The Gram Panchayat leaders -- Sarpanch, Upa-Sarpanch (Vice-Sarpanch), Panchayat Secretary, ward members, and other local leaders gathered on Tuesday, and passed the resolution, according to T Karunakar Reddy from Telangana Today.
This campaign to banish the sexual predators was taken up by Chennamsetty Uday Kumar, State Secretary of Telangana Yuvajana Sangala Samithi, a youth organisation.
Speaking to TNM, he said, “The Hanamkonda incident shook us. It was the most brutal incident. In our country we don’t have laws like in Saudi where convicted rapists are executed; since such laws don’t exist here, we have been approaching the Gram Panchayat leaders to pass a resolution and banish these predators.”
Uday wants his campaign to spread across all the villages in Telangana. Out of 13 villages in Gummadidala two of them have come forward and passed the resolution.
“Such a resolution should be taken up by all the village elders to prevent rape incidents henceforth. Such resolutions will deter the crimes,” Uday said.
“Kanukunta and Mambapuram have approved our idea and have passed the resolution. We will convince the other 11 villages in Gummadidala in another two weeks,” he said.
G Neelamma, Sarpanch of Kanukunta speaking to TNM said, “It is indeed the need of the hour. There is no safety for women and children, irrespective of their age. We have seen how girls were offered a lift, and then raped and killed (referring to the Hajipur rape incident). Identifying the predators and kicking them out of the village will prevent such crimes. There should be no place for those who harass and assault women. This move will teach a lesson and instil fear in the offenders.”
“We are glad our panchayat for the first to respond positively on this, and passed the resolution unanimously. Other villages too should pass a similar resolutions for the safety of women and children,” she added.