Techie gang-raped at get-together; Woman raped on bus

Two rape cases registered in Hyderabad on Tuesday have sparked outrage. In the first case, a software engineer was gang-raped by two friends at a hotel in Vanasthalipuram. One of them was a childhood friend who had studied with her from class 2 to 10. In the second case, a woman was raped by the driver of a sleeper bus going from Sangareddy to Prakasham district. The most shocking part is that it happened when other passengers were on board. The perpetrator had gagged the woman to stifle her cries.

In the Vanasthalipuram case, the software engineer had been invited to a get-together at Hotel Bommarillu in Omkar Nagar by her childhood friend, Gautham Reddy. There were other mutual friends present too.

They had dinner and drinks at the restaurant and then checked into a room on the hotel premises. Gautham Reddy and another friend allegedly raped the woman while she was inebriated. She screamed when she gained consciousness and the hotel staff rushed to the room. The two accused fled from the spot. The woman lodged a complaint with Vanasthalipuram police and the case is being investigated.

The woman who was raped in a moving bus managed to dial 100 and alert the police when the vehicle reached Medchal. Hyderabad police intercepted the bus near Osmania University and arrested two drivers.

In the ongoing budget session of the Telangana assembly, the opposition had drawn the attention of the state government to a spurt in crime. Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and former minister Harish Rao had alleged that the crime rate had risen since the Congress came to power. He had alleged that murders and rapes were taking place unchecked, yet the government and police seemed indifferent.

“As many as 500 murders were reported in the state during the last eight months. If this continues, it will impact investments coming in the state,” he had warned.