It was a girl’s tribute to her deceased friend, in the form of steadfast evidence, that helped in justice in the sensational case of rape and murder of an orphan girl in a children’s home at Ameenpur.
A special court in Sangareddy district for trial of POCSO cases has convicted three persons and sentenced them to rigorous life imprisonment in the case.
Stood by her evidence
Of the four girls who were witnesses of the sexual assault in the home, a close friend of the victim reportedly stood by her evidence, in the face of protracted grilling by a host of defence lawyers employed by the accused.
“She, along with the other girls, was a witness when the victim was found drugged and naked after the assault. There were several attempts by the accused to force them into turning hostile, but this one girl stood by her statement, no matter what, which essentially saved the case for us,” shared Public Prosecutor Phani Kumar.
Coordinated efforts
Also, the conviction could not have happened if not for the coordinated efforts by various departments with a special mention of Women and Child Development.
One more vital evidence was the statement of the victim recorded by a member of the Telangana State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Bandi Aparna.
“I visited the girl soon after she was shifted to the juvenile home from the Bharosa centre, and recorded her statement on my phone. I had not put much thought into it while doing it, but it helped a great deal later,” Ms. Aparna said, who also served as the chairperson of the core committee constituted by Commissioner, Women Development and Child Welfare, D. Divya to monitor the case.
“We shifted all the girls out of the orphanage and several of them into the children’s home inside the State Home premises. But one hindrance was that the four girls, whose statements were crucial to the case, stayed outside with parents. We found it challenging to protect them and ensure their wellbeing especially during the COVID-19 lockdown,” said Ms. Divya.
The District Welfare Officer and District Child Protection Officer of Sangareddy deserve accolades for attending the hearings regularly, she said.
Based on their reports, the department completed construction of a special booth in the court hall as per the requirements of the POCSO Act, so that the accused were hidden from the child witnesses.
“The Director, Prosecution, too, helped us a lot by appointing the best hand available from his team, and deputing him from Rangareddy to Sangareddy exclusively for this case. He fought three defence lawyers, two of the High Court and one, Supreme Court, and a large team of their assistants with utmost conviction, and won the case,” Ms. Divya said.
