Special Public Prosecutor Sunkara Rajendra Prasad, who is arguing the Vakapalli case in the Special Court for SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in Visakhapatnam, on Tuesday sought the registers maintained by the Armed Reserve Police and the Paderu Police Station regarding the allocation of duties and arms to the Special Party policemen who were allegedly involved in the rape of eleven tribal women of Vakapalli.
Mr. Rajendra Prasad said that this evidence will throw light on the movements of the accused policemen on the day of the alleged crime. Special Sessions Judge Justice O.V. Nageswar Rao thereafter directed the Reserve Inspector and the SHO of Paderu Police Station to produce these records.
For the last three hearings, the Reserve Inspector and the SHO Paderu have been reporting to the court that the relevant registers are untraceable. In Tuesday’s hearing, the Reserve Inspector submitted only the Arms Issue Register to the court.
Mr. Rajendra Prasad argued that the police are deliberately delaying the submission of registers. He added that the
Police Standing Orders mandates the maintenance of these registers and that they cannot be destroyed.
Justice Nageswar Rao directed both the Reserve Inspector and the SHO Paderu to pay special attention to the matter and to trace the registers by January 2, 2020.
The case has been adjourned to January 2.
Decade-long struggle
It may be recollected that on August 20, 2007, 11 adivasi women of Vakapalli village in Nurmati panchayat of G. Madugula mandal in Visakhapatnam agency were allegedly gangraped by 21 personnel of A.P. Special Police, who were on combing operations in the Naxal-affected areas. Of the 21 accused, 13 were implicated in the case.
After a decade-long struggle by the victims, the Supreme Court in August 2017 had ordered that the case be heard by a Special Court constituted to handle SC/ST Atrocities Act in Visakhapatnam.
The case is now being fought by nine out of the 11 surviving victims.
