Hyderabad Police are mulling over registering a case against BJP MLA M. Raghunandan Rao for releasing pictures and a video clip of the minor in the Jubilee Hills gang-rape case.
However, they have not yet taken a final call on the matter and already approached legal experts. “Release of pictures of a victim in sexual assault obviously attracts penal action whatever be the purpose behind it. But our priority is now to build the case and not booking the MLA,” a police officer associated with investigation of the case said.
Moreover, while the Jubilee Hills police of West Zone are investigating the case, the MLA released the pics and video clip in the BJP party office coming under Abids police station area of Central Zone. The lawyers, whom the police consulted over registration of case against the legislator, reportedly told them not to take a haste action.
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“If penal action is initiated against the legislator in this regard, similar action has to be taken against all the persons, including the media organisations who telecast video footage of the minor showing her walking outside the pub with some of the accused,” the lawyers reportedly told the investigators.
Already, police issued notice to a journalist Subhan who reportedly posted content relating to the gangrape victim on his social media page. A wing of the police had told the administrators of WhatsApp groups through which the content got circulated.
While focussing on reconstructing the sequence of events connected to the gangrape, the higher-ups are reportedly thinking of invoking penal action ‘at an appropriate time’ against the persons spreading details of the victim. The police are also verifying if Section 363 (kidnap) of Indian Penal Code and provisions of the IT Act can be applied against the accused in the gangrape case.
Taking the girl from outside the pub into the vehicle before violating her would attract ingredients of kidnap even though no force was used, a police officer said. Taking intimate pictures and video clip of the girl and circulating them would attract provisions of the IT Act, the officer said, unwilling to be named.
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