Three persons, two of them cousins, have sentenced to life imprisonment by the sessions court in Sangareddy for the gangrape of a 16-year-old in May 2019. Three others, also accused in the case, have been acquitted.
The three accused who have been convicted are Shivaratri Venkat (21), Shivaratri Anjaneyulu (21) and M Ramulu (24). The three have been sentenced to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs 15,000 each.
Police say the main accused, Venkat, befriended the minor over the phone and promised to marry her. On May 15 last year, the accused gangraped the minor at her residence and after the sexual assault, the three men threatened the minor and kidnapped her. They took her to a graveyard where she was sexually assaulted again. Then the three men dropped her off next day morning 4 am at a bus stop and the girl managed to catch a bus back home. The family then approached the Jagdevpur police station to file a complaint.
The police arrested the accused and sent them on judicial custody on May 19 with the charge sheet being filed 65 days later.
In another development, the three convicted and sentenced to death in the gangrape and murder of the 30-year-old woman in Kumarambheem Asifabad district will be approaching the Telangana High Court against the conviction, reported ToI.
The family of the three accused did not find a lawyer to fight the case in court with the Bar Association of Adilabad refusing to appear on behalf of the accused. The legal service authorities then appointed advocate Raheem as the legal counsel of the accused. The family has now approached the same lawyer seeking his assistance to appeal against the verdict in Telangana High Court.