Hyderabad: In a ghastly incident of torture and sexual assault, a tribal Chenchu woman, who is a mother of three children, was brutally tortured by two people whose farm she worked at for simply going to her parents village after a fight with her husband. The victim, Nirmalamma*, had her private parts burnt by the assailants, who allegedly poured petrol on her private parts and also rubbed red chilly on her wounds and eyes.
The Chenchu woman’s husband has been identified as Venkatanna*, and they are residents of Molachinthalapally village of Kollapur mandal in Nagarkurnool district. They have been working as daily-wage labourers in the farm of Venkatesh and Shiva, who belong to a different community from the same village.
The lands of both the families lied adjacent to each other, with Venkatesh and Shiva taking the land of Venkatanna for lease and employing the couple as labourers in their own land for work.
It could be mentioned that in the Nagarkurnool district, though Chenchus own lands, many give it out on lease to tenant farmers from other communities, often working as labourers in their own lands after receiving an advance from the tenant farmers for the work.
Couple of weeks ago, the Chenchu couple had a fight and the victim left to her parents’ village Chukkaipally in the Kollapur mandal. Venkatesh and Shiva, without the consent of Venkatanna, found her and brought her back to their village. However, she wasn’t taken to her husband.
On June 8, Venkatesh, along with his wife Shivamma, his brother Shiva, the victim’s sister Lakshmamma and her husband Lingaswamy thrashed the victim mercilessly openly in the village. She was beaten with sticks, kicked, slapped, dragged on the ground and was even undressed. The video of the torture was recorded by a villager on his cell phone. People seemed to be enjoying how the lady was tortured.
The attackers allegedly poured petrol on her private parts and set it on fire, resulting in 3-4 % of burns on her body, said the police. According to members of the Chenchu community, the attackers threatened Venkatanna with dire consequences if he disclosed the torture to others.
As Nirmalamma* was being treated by registered medical practitioners (RMP) in the village, the news spread about what the Chenchu woman was subjected to. As the videos of torture became viral on social media locally, the Kollapur police reached the village on the night of June 19, rescued the victim and took her to Kollapur Area Hospital.
She was shifted to the Nagarkurnool Government Hospital, where her health condition became stable. The police arrested the four attackers including Venkatesh, Shiva, Shivamma, Lakshmamma and Lingaswamy.
According to Kollapur SHO Mahesh, based on the complaint lodged by Eadanna, the accused have been charged under sections 307(attempt to murder), section 354 (using criminal force with the intention of disrobing), 376 (committing rape) of IPC, in addition to charging them all under Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989.
The case is being investigated by Nagarkurnool DSP Srinivas Yadav, and the accused are expected to be produced before the court for judicial remand on Friday. The victim’s three children have been handed over to the child welfare committee (CWC) of Nagarkurnool.
(The names have been changed to protect the identity of the victim and their family.)
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