A.P. Women’s Commission Chairperson Vasireddy Padma and Anantapur Urban MLA Anantha Venkatarami Reddy along with Superintendent of Police B. Sathya Yesu Babu came to the house of murdered SBI employee Snehalatha, whose body was kept outside on the street, but Joint Action Committee of Dalit Organisations gheraoed them and demanded immediate suspension of I Town Circle Inspector Prathap Reddy for his alleged comments on Snehalatha and revealing her phone messages and calls to Rajesh and other detail.
The Dalit organisations did not allow them to board their vehicles, which led to a tense situation as the activists kept on raising slogans and demanded action on the police for its alleged timely inaction, “otherwise, the girl would have been alive now”.
“We are aghast at the claim of the police that they acted with alacrity and solved the murder mystery at a time when they did not act on time and allowed the crime to happen. Snehalatha’s life could have been saved,” said Dalit leaders.
“Disha, police failed me”
The much-publicised Disha App and police personnel failed us, alleged Snehalatha’s mother M. Lakshmi Devi, talking to TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu over the phone in front of mediapersons on Thursday morning.
“I approached the police on Monday night, but they did not take any complaint and wanted me to come to the police station the next morning and lodge a complaint. I dialled the Disha App and the person who received the call, asked me from which State are you calling and go and lodge a complaint in your police station,” said M. Lakshmi Devi.
“This boy Gutti Rajesh (a masonry worker) had been harassing my daughter for the past one year, I had told the police about it. When I approached the I Town police in the night they said it was a love affair and she would come back. If it was a love affair, why would that boy kill my daughter,” she questioned. “He used to drink and come to our house when my husband, working as a driver, was away,” she alleged.
Government will support Snehalatha’s family: Women’s panel chief
The State government will solidly stand behind the family members of the Dalit SBI-outsourced employee Snehalatha, who was murdered on Monday night at Dharmavaram, said A.P. Women’s Commission Chairperson Vasireddy Padma on Thursday.
The mindset of boys needs to be changed as they have been taking women for granted and committing all kinds of offences, be it a college girl or married woman. The State government is working towards a better society in the spirit of the Disha Act, though it has not become a law, said Ms. Padma promising all possible help to the family.
“The culprits would be punished as per law and a case with all sections with stringent punishment has been lodged against the two boys, Rajesh and Karthik by the police, who have done an exemplary work,” she added. Amid protests from the Dalit organisations, she along with Anantapur Urban MLA Anantha Venkatarami Reddy and SP B. Satya Yesu Babu talked to the victim’s mother M. Lakshmi Devi in her house for about 20 minutes after laying wreaths on the body of Snehalatha.
The BJP, CPI(M) and CPI district chiefs KNV Srinivas, V. Rambhupal and D. Jagdeesh consoled the family members and demanded justice to the family and booking of the culprits immediately. The district Collector Gandham Chandrudu later visited the family and consoled them.
