Bapatla: Two men were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on Wednesday for gang-raping a pregnant woman near the Repalle railway platform in Bapatla district of Andhra Pradesh in 2022, police said. P Vijaya Krishna and P Nikhil from Repalle town were handed the prison term by the Guntur Additional District and Sessions Court.
"We have convicted them (accused) within a period of one year and they got an imprisonment of 20 years. This case was personally monitored by the DGP," Bapatla Superintendent of Police Vakul Jindal, who also oversaw the probe into the sensational case, told PTI. According to police, the victim along with her husband and children from Yerragondapalem mandal in Prakasam district reached Repalle railway station at 11.30 pm on April 30, 2022 on her way to Nagayalanka village in Krishna district to work as a labourer.
As it was already late night, they all slept on the platform. Around 1 am on May 1, 2022, Krishna and Nikhil woke up the sleeping family, fought with the victim's husband, and grabbed some cash from him. They went on to drag the woman away to the side of the platform where they took turns and raped her.
Meanwhile, the victim's husband escaped from there and ran to Repalle police station to lodge a complaint. As the police were on their way to the crime scene, the accused escaped. However, within a few hours, police managed to capture them and got them convicted within a year to ensure maximum punishment through the judicial process, said Jindal.
Further, the SP noted that Director General of Police (DGP) K Rajendranath Reddy has implemented Court Trial Monitoring System across the state to ensure that persons accused in women-related, POCSO and other serious cases do not escape from the law. He said this system will prove such crimes with scientific evidence. (PTI)
