Hours after protesting for Hyd rape victim, BJP youth leader booked for alleged sexual harassment
Ashish Goud, son of a former MLA from Telangana, has been booked by the Madhapur police for harassing a former Bigg Boss contestant.
Ashish is the son of Nandeshwar Goud, who was the former legislator of Patancheru constituency in the state in 2009. Nandeshwar was a Congress MLA in 2009, after which he joined BJP in 2016 and later joined the TDP in 2019. Ashish is also a member of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM).
The incident took place early on Sunday (December 1) at around 2 am at a hotel in Madhapur, Cyberabad. According to the complaint filed by the 27-year-old woman, she and her friends had been standing in a corner and listening to music, when Ashish and his friends approached them and began misbehaving with them.
“He (Ashish) and two of his friends misbehaved with me and my friends by catching hands, shouted on us with stupid vulgar language. Ashish Goud and his friends threw bottles (glass) on the floor and about to hit us (sic),” the complaint says.
Following her complaint, Madhapur police have filed an FIR under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and Section 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
“The woman came and filed a complaint with us, following which we filed the FIR. However, the accused is absconding and we are yet to apprehend him,” said a police official from the Madhapur police station to TNM.
Responding to the allegations, Ashish Goud spoke to the media on Sunday afternoon.
“I found out this morning that there is some news claiming that I misbehaved and it is being spread. That is all false. If there is something like that, people should come forward with proof. It’s become a habit nowadays for everyone to issue blank complaints like this. We are not those who get scared for this,” he said.
Ironically, the incident at the pub happened hours after Ashish took part in a protest calling for the hanging of those accused in raping and killing a Hyderabad vet. His Facebook page shows him participating in a protest.
“This injustice which has happened to (name redacted) is so heartbreaking, these crimes are growing day by day. These criminals have to be hanged to death or shoot to death. No more candle light marches or protests, serious action should be taken and the only solution is hanging these brutual rapists,” reads one of the posts on the Facebook page of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader.
(Screenshot from Ashish Goud's FB page)
On Thursday, the body of 26-year-old Madhuri*, the body of a veterinarian doctor from Hyderabad was found badly burnt and subsequent investigations revealed that the young woman was gangraped and murdered in an elaborately planned malicious plot. Her death has been met with immense anger and several protests have been ongoing ever since the tragic news broke.
(*Name changed)