2 minors raped in Visakhapatnam District; accused on the run

Two horrific cases of alleged rape of minors have come to light in Visakhapatnam District. The two girls, belonging to different families, from the same locality in a village under Atchutapuram Mandal, were allegedly raped by their neighbours on Sunday. 

As per the complaints, filed by the victims’ families on Monday night at Atchutapuram police station, the accused are the two girls’ neighbours – a 50 year-old man and his 27-year-old son, who are both known to the victims’ families. The two accused run a Kabaddi traning centre in the village. Reportedly, both the victims are aged around nine years. They were apparently playing near their houses when the accused approached the two girls separately and took them to an isolated area on Sunday evening, with the lie of teaching them Kabaddi. The two minors were then raped by the father-son duo. The victims then reported this to their parents who immediately filed a complaint at the police station.

The Atchutapuram police have registered cases of rape of minors, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Sub-Inspector (SI) M Upendra has revealed that the search is on for the two accused in Visakhapatnam District. 

Sadly, this is not the only rape case in the news this week. Saidabad police of Hyderabad are on the lookout for a man named Pallakonda Raju who has been accused of raping and then killing a 6-year-old and is currently on the run. Accordingly, the police have announced a cash reward of Rs. 10 lakh for any information on the accused, in order to expedite his arrest. 

Despite the Disha police doing good work in patrolling vulnerable areas and acting quickly on complaints, these rape cases every other month are raising huge question marks on women’s safety in the state.