Nagpur: In today's age when rapes have ceased to be a shocking crime anymore, a father of two girls from Telangana, decided to reach His Excellency the President of India to register his concerns over the exponentiality of sexual crimes in the country. His venture has caught attention because of the medium he chose to reach the President - a bicycle.
A few recent incidents of sexual abuse against minor girls in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh compelled Rishikeshwar Raju to take a step that would potentially make a difference. Consequently, he set out to meet the President, covering a distance of about 2000 kilometers on a bicycle, demanding a law that would legalize the encounter or death penalty as a compulsory punishment for rapists and sexual abusers. The man started his journey from Miryalguda in Telangana's Nalgonda district on International Women's Day on March 8 and will meet the President in Delhi on April 5, if everything goes as planned.
His everyday routine since the beginning of his mission involves cycling 70 to 80 kilometers every day, getting some food wherever he might find it along the way, and crashing somewhere at night for some sleep. The next morning, Rishikeshwar sets out on his way to Delhi again. Having covered a distance of about 700 km in 14 days so far, the remaining 1200 km to Delhi await him.
Speaking about his motivation and drive behind this venture, Raju, with his bicycle laden with posters of his venture said, "Though I am aware that the central and the state governments are putting several efforts to curb the sexual crimes in the country, the situation has just been reeling down. It's shocking that according to research, the accused are mostly the acquaintances or relatives of the victims. Children, who are entirely unaware about such ordeals, therefore get caught in such traps very easily."
Opining that encounters or death penalty should be the only punishment for criminals committing such heinous crimes, Rishishkeshwar reiterated that the crimes have increased instead of decreasing ever since the Nirbhaya case came to light despite the central government beefing up the laws around such crimes. "Increasing incidents of child abuse have paralyzed the society. The Disha Act came into existence last year after the Dr Priyanka Reddy case but that too, has been effective only to some extent. There's only one way to create fear of law and order among these criminals - encounters," he said. Hoping to get his concerns registered and acted upon, Raju carries forward his journey to the President in a rather unique way he has chosen to get noticed.
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