Priyanka Reddy Case: burn them alive, if guilty say parents of accused

Parents of the two of the accused who confessed to having brutally raped and murdered 26-year-old Hyderabad veterinary doctor have demanded extreme punishments for their sons.

The woman was raped, asphyxiated and her dead body then set alight on Nov 27 on the outskirts of the southern city of Hyderabad, according to police. Four men aged between 20 and 28 years have been arrested in connection with the crime.

Mother of Chennakeshavulu, one of the accused in the gang rape, and murder, told the media, “If my son committed the crime, burn him too. My son is nothing to me. Wrong is wrong.”

Muhammad Ali alias Arif who is the prime accused had come to their house on November 24 to take Chennakeshavulu along with him, said Chennakeshavulu’s mother.

“He was supposed to return on November 25 but didn’t.”

She added that Chennakeshavulu hadn’t worked for the past six months as he had a kidney ailment and was getting treatment at a hospital in Hyderabad.

“We don’t believe that he committed the crime, but if he did indeed commit it then he should face the same punishment as the other accused,” she said.

Jayamma said that she too has a daughter and understands the pain of the grieving mother of the slaim Priyanka Reddy.

Similarly, Hussain, father of the prime accused Arif, said that his son should be severely punished if he had committed such a crime.

Indian police registered more than 32,500 cases of rape in 2017, according to government data. But tens of thousands of such cases remain stuck in courts, often hindering victims and their families as they navigate the slow and cumbersome legal system.

In 2017, for example, courts only disposed off about 18,300 cases related to rape and more than 127,800 such cases remained pending at the end of the year.