Hyderabad: Protests against the gangrape and murder of a woman veterinary doctor near here continued Monday in the city and other parts of Telangana with students, lawyers and others taking out rallies and holding demonstrations demanding death penalty for the four accused arrested in the case.
Raising slogans like ‘We want justice’ and holding placards that read ‘Hang the rapists’, the protesters condemned the incident.
Scores of students of different educational institutions under the aegis of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) took out a rally from Baghlingampally to Indira Park and demanded that the accused be hanged in public.
Advocates under the banner of Telangana Advocates Joint Action Committee (JAC) also held protests and staged candle-light vigil near the High Court here.
Protests were also held by school students and different student groups and others at various places in the state, demanding capital punishment for the accused.
The charred body of the woman, working as an assistant veterinarian at a state-run hospital, was found dumped under a culvert at Shadnagar near here November 28 morning, a day after she went missing.
Four men, all lorry workers, aged between 20 and 24, were arrested November 29 on charges of raping and killing the woman and were sent to judicial custody for 14 days, Saturday.
The four, who faced violent protests while being taken to the prison, are now kept in solitary confinement at Cherlapally Prison. Police are apprehensive that co-prisoners may attack the accused and are not taking any chances.
Meanwhile in a separate development, the Telangana police have given the young veterinarian who was allegedly raped and murdered by four men in Hyderabad last week the sobriquet ‘Disha’.
The move comes as the police look to safeguard the confidentiality and rights of the victim’s family. However, more than concealing the deceased woman’s identity, officers expect the name Disha, meaning ‘direction’, to prompt women to seek immediate police help in such dangerous situations.
“We hope the word ‘Disha’ would serve as a guiding case cautioning our officers to promptly attend to a missing person complaint,” said a Cyberabad Police Commissionerate officer who didn’t wish to be named.
Agencies