Girl raped by boyfriend, his friend, a photographer for days in Vizag; 11 held

The Andhra Pradesh Police on Monday said it has arrested 11 men for allegedly raping a minor girl on different occasions in Visakhapatnam, news agency PTI reported. The girl, who hails from Odisha, told the police that her boyfriend took her to a hotel room under the pretext of celebrating her birthday on December 17. Here, her boyfriend had physical relations with her and later called his friend to the hotel.
“He brought his friend who also sexually assaulted the girl,” Visakhapatnam Zone-1 deputy commissioner of police K Srinivas Rao told PTI.
Rao added that unable to bear the mental trauma, the girl then went to RK Beach in the port city to end her life. However, a photographer who worked at the beach, entered into a conversation with her and took her to a lodge and sexually assaulted her.
Later, he took her to another room, where eight to nine of the photographer’s friends also raped the minor for two days. “After this, the girl managed to escape from there and ran away,” PTI quoted the officer as saying.
The incident came to light after the parents of the minor registered a missing complaint with the police.
“Based on a complaint received by the minor girl’s parents on December 18, we registered a missing case on the same day and started an investigation. We received information that she was in Odisha. Immediately, our police team went there and brought her back on December 25,” Rao said.
The police said the girl was raped by the photographer and his friends on December 20, 21 and 22. They are also probing whether she was sexually assaulted on December 18 and 19 as well.
Rao said the police have altered the missing case into a rape (IPC Section 376) and added the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act (POCSO).
Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu expressed anguish and concern over the incident.
“My head hangs in shame, and my heart aches at this heinous crime in Vizag (Visakhapatnam),” Naidu wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
He also alleged an utter law and order failure in the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led Andhra Pradesh government.
“Criminals continue to hurt our daughters and sisters without fearing the law because they know there is no law and order in a YSRCP-ruled Andhra Pradesh. Forget women empowerment, YS Jagan’s vision seems to only empower criminals who prey on women,” he wrote.