Visakhapatnam rape case sends national wake up call

Visakhapatnam is the scene of a horrifying and shocking rape where an inebriated drunk, high on ganja rapes a destitute woman near Railway Station.The worst part, no one from among the bystanders and passers-by came to help and this too amounts to sexual harassment.

The rape accused, Ganji Siva, a 23-year-old truck cleaner, has been arrested and produced before the court on Monday. He has also been sent to two weeks of judicial remand.Alcoholic and ganja addict, Shiva raped the 43-year-old woman on the busy pavement and the worst part is that passerby watched and came to no aid. Not helping the victim of sexual harassment also amounts to being accessory to the crime.This all happened in the broad daylight around 2 to 2.30 p.m. An autorickshaw driver sitting on the opposite side of the road recorded the incident on his mobile phone but did not come forward to help.

What has now come to light is that the rape accused was under the influence of alcohol and ganja and blood samples have revealed the same. This has been taken by the police as evidence.

As per the Indian Express reports of Inspector Ramana on the matter – “The woman had left her home in Vepagunta near Pendurthi on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam after a tiff with her husband and had arrived in Visakhapatnam on a bus early Sunday. She took shelter under a tree on the pavement when Shiva assaulted her. He is an alcoholic and drug addict. The video shows several people passing by but no one stopped to help the woman. Her husband is a labourer and they fought Sunday morning after which she left home and took shelter on the pavement. She has been admitted to KGH.”

The victim is too traumatized to talk or shed some light and is getting due care.The culprit has been nabbed on the basis of the identification by the video as well the CCTV footage. The video has disclosed the indifference of the passers-by who made calls to police control room but did nothing to help the woman while the assault was taking place. This has amounted to a double crime of sexual harassment, one of rape and the other of being a passive bystander when the crime is committed.