The city police have questioned the auto driver, Sreenu, who allegedly filmed the rape episode and transmitted it to the police WhatsApp, and booked him under IPC Section 354 C, which states that any man who watches, or captures the image of a woman engaging in a private act can be booked, and IT Act 67 A, which covers punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act, etc., in electronic form.
Ganji Siva (21), a lorry driver, allegedly raped a 35-year-old destitute in public glare, near Srinivasa Kalyana Mandapam in Railway New Colony area in Visakhapatnam on Sunday afternoon. The act was filmed by the auto driver and transmitted to the police App and based on which the police acted and arrested the accused.
Slapping of the IPC and IT sections on the auto driver has evoked mixed response among the public.
While some say that the auto driver had done a good job by transmitting the image to the police, and the police should not act against him, some say that he should have stopped youth and rescued the woman.
Police version
But the police have a different version.
According to the police, the auto driver should have filmed, transmitted and kept that video clip as evidence. He should not have let it out to the media and others.
Now the privacy of a rape victim is exposed and this is insensitive, said a senior police officer. His intentions may have been right, but the video clip has gone viral and it is being used in sleazy sites. The privacy of a woman, whoever she may be, is lost, he added. We have to go by the rules, he added.
