Indian rape crisis: Mother disowns accused gang-rapist son: 'Burn my son the same way she was burned'

RT
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 20:10 UTC

© Reuters /Vinod Babu

People shout slogans during a protest against the alleged rape and murder of a 27-year-old woman in Hyderabad, India, December 2, 2019.

The families of the four men accused of the gang rape, murder, and desecration of Priyanka Reddy in a case which has shocked the whole of India, have called for their sons to be hanged and burned for what they did.

The four accused men currently in custody for the barbaric crime are Mohammad Pasha, Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen, and Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu. Each of their families have faced public humiliation and intense scrutiny in the wake of the devastating crime.

"If my son is wrong, burn him the same way she was burned. Isn't the victim also the daughter of a mother? I am suffering today, I can imagine what the girl's mother is going through," Chennakesavulu's mother Jayamma said. "You hang him, kill him or shoot him dead. Will you listen if I say I want my son back? You give whatever punishment. I have a daughter too," she added while fielding questions from journalists in Telangana.

"You do anything. God only knows," the mother of the accused Siva said, echoing comments made by the parents of the accused Mohammad.

Jollu Shiva who allegedly took Reddy's bike away and who also reportedly bought the petrol used to burn her remains has been disowned by his family.

"I don't want anything to do with my son. I have disowned him... I will not go to court when the trial starts either. He is dead to me," Jollu Rajappa, Shiva's father said, adding that his family have faced humiliation and public taunting after it was alleged that their son had participated in the appalling crime.

Jollu Naveen is accused of removing the air from Reddy's tire and of partipicating in the gang rape and murder.

"Of course I am angry with him. How dare he do something like this? How dare he even think of something like this? I am in disbelief that my son could be this person but I am so much more angry. He should be punished," Naveen's mother, Laxmi said.

Under Indian law, the punishment for murder is death or imprisonment for life and a fine, while the punishment for gang rape is imprisonment for 20 years to life along with a fine to be paid to the victim.

The four men, all aged between 20 and 24, have also been charged with criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, intimidation, falsifying evidence, and robbery, among other charges.

The accused confessed to planning the murder in advance, puncturing one of the tires on Reddy's motorbike, before ambushing her under the guise of offering her help, gang raping and then murdering her before burning her body some 25km (16 miles) away under a bridge. Locals discovered her charred remains the following morning.

According to the police report, she was forced to drink alcohol before she was raped and murdered and later set on fire using a combination of petrol and diesel.

The four accused have been kept in solitary confinement and under constant surveillance in the high-security wards of Cherlapally Central Prison since their arrest and subsequent confessions over the weekend. Their transport vehicle was attacked by an irate mob of citizens who pelted it with stones and shoes.

Comment: The four men have narrowly escaped being lynched by the furious public

Tens of thousands of people poured onto the streets of Hyderabad, and elsewhere across the state of Telangana, as the accused appeared before a district magistrate on Saturday. Police had to call in reinforcements to prevent lynching, escorting the suspects through the angry masses in one piece.

As the crowd grew increasingly violent, throwing slippers at the officers and refusing to let them pass, police were forced use batons to disperse the mob.

An Indian MP thought lynching would be appropriate, and said so in parliament:

Indian MP and Samajwadi Party leader Jaya Bachchan called for the public lynching of the accused rapists in the horrific Hyderabad case, which has swept the country and led to outbreaks of violence and protest.

"I think these people need to be shamed in front of the entire country. People who have not done their jobs properly. These kind of people (the accused) should be brought out in public and lynched."

Speaking at India's upper house of parliament, the Rajya Sabha, MPJaya Bachchan added: "I think the people now want the government to give a proper answer and a very definite answer. What has happened? How they have tackled it and how far justice has been done to these people?"

Further public outcry ensued when the victim's name was found to be listed on a porn site

The victim of a vicious gang-rape and murder, Priyanka Reddy, was propelled to the top of a popular porn site's trends by fake video uploaders and user searches, triggering a wave of disgust and demands it be scrubbed.

Indian and Pakistani versions of one of the world's most visited porn sites featured the name the 27-year-old woman as the number-one trend over the weekend, further sickening the people of India who are still in shock following the kidnapping, rape and brutal murder of Priyanka Reddy.

There are absolutely no indications that the rapists - who already confessed to the crime and are awaiting trial and sentencing - might have recorded their atrocities. Yet by Sunday evening, the woman's name was propelled to the top of the trends by uploaders of fake videos, abusing the viral hashtag, as well as searches by morally bankrupt visitors.

Blasting those who helped popularize the trend as latent sex abusers and rape culture enablers, hundreds vented their anger on Twitter, saying that such behavior undermines any remaining "hope in humanity." While the website has yet to address the scandal, a petition was launched urging it to remove Priyanka Reddy's name from the trends immediately.