VIJAYAWADA: In yet another incident of crime against women, a 25-year-old woman was gang-raped by three unidentified miscreants at Repalle railway station in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.
The migrant worker from Yerragondapalem in Prakasam district was on the way to Avanigadda in Krishna district along with her family. They took shelter in the station premises along with their three kids on Saturday night as no transportation service was available to Avanigadda at that time.
This is the second incident of gangrape reported inside railway station in the last two weeks.
According to sources, the accused entered the railway station around midnight and tried to take away the women sleeping on a bench. The husband went for her rescue but they attacked him and took her to the far end of first platform where they raped her.
After badly beaten up by the miscreants, the husband tried to reach out to the railway police. He alleged that the police in the railway station did not open the doors even after repeatedly knocking the door. He, then, went to Repalle town police and lodged a complaint.
Repalle police rushed to the spot and shifted the victim to the hospital.
Bapatla SP Vakul Jindal visited the spot and personally monitored the investigation. The police launched a manhunt for the miscreants.
After the incident came to light, protests broke out at Repalle. TDP functionary Anagani Satya Prasad along with party workers staged dharna at railway station demanding justice for the victim. TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh said that the rapists are on the prowl in Andhra Pradesh as the state government has failed to take measures for the women's safety.
This is the fourth incident of rape in Guntur district in a span of two weeks. The first incident was reported at Gurazala railway station in Palnadu district where a worker from Odisha was gang-raped.
Days after the Gurazala incident, another woman was allegedly gang-raped before she was killed at Duggirala in Guntur district. However, the police had denied the allegations of gangrape.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
