It was in August 2017 that 15-year-old Geeta (name changed), a class 10 student, was found dead in mysterious conditions in her hostel room in Andhra’s Kurnool district. Four years later, her parents Sugali Raju Naik and Parvathi are still struggling to demand a fair investigation into the case of their daughter’s rape and murder. The compensation, due to the victim’s family, who belong to an ST community, under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, has also been delayed.
On July 27, Geeta’s parents were on their way to meet the outgoing Kurnool District Collector G Veerapandian regarding delay in issuing orders for compensation, when they were detained by the Kurnool police. The father, Raju Naik was allegedly injured while being detained by the police. On the other hand, with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) refusing to take up the case, the family is waiting for their petition to transfer the case to the CBI, filed nearly two years ago, to come up for hearing in the High Court.
Geeta was allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered at the Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy Residential High School where she was a student on August 19, 2017. A five-member committee appointed by the District Collector found many discrepancies in the case, and stated that the victim had been sexually assaulted based on the post-mortem report and other evidence. Yet, the police dropped the charges of child sexual assault, murder and destruction of evidence, and instead charged the accused — the school Correspondent Vallapureddy Janardhan Reddy and his sons Harashavardhan Reddy and Diwakar Reddy — with abetment of suicide, and under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 2015.
In October 2019, after the parents met state Home Minister Mekathoti Sucharita with a representation and pointed out lapses in the investigation, the government initiated a fresh probe, appointing a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Additional SP Ramadevi. However, the family had also moved the High Court to transfer the case to the CBI. In February 2020, the family met Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, and asked him to consider handing over the case to the CBI. Soon after the meeting, on February 27, the state government issued orders giving consent to the CBI to take up Geeta’s case.
The CBI, however, has refused to take up the case. According to Kurnool SP Sudheer Kumar Reddy, the CBI has sent a letter citing reasons for its refusal. “The reasons cited were that there is already a senior officer of the rank of Addl SP, and a lady officer, who is investigating the case. And since no international or interstate ramifications are there, they have refused to take up the case,” he said. With this, the family has no option but to seek High Court orders transferring the case to the CBI. However, in two years since the family moved the High Court, the case hasn’t come up for hearing, said Balasundaram M, a Dalit rights activist who has been working with Geeta’s family for the past four years.
According to Balasundaram, after the Chief Minister’s intervention, State Women and Child Welfare Department Director and Disha Special Officer Kritika Shukla met with the parents and district officials, including the former Collector and Superintendent of Police, on June 27, 2021. “The compensation included a government job, five acres of agricultural land and a five cent plot. After the meeting, where the abnormal delay in compensation was also discussed, the Collector assured that it would be granted immediately,” said Balasundaram.
While Geeta’s father was recently given a job in the revenue department, the land compensation has still been delayed. The parents, along with Balasundaram, sought to meet the Collector on July 27, as he had been transferred, to ask about the status of orders for granting the compensation. “Officials at the collectorate told us that the Collector was being felicitated in the office premises and asked to reach the auditorium. But just as we reached, police detained us, abused us, and took us to the Kurnool Taluk Police Station where we were detained from 6 pm to 11 pm without any explanation,” Balasundaram said.
Kurnool SP Sudheer Kumar Reddy said that with the farewell function going on, “We received a message from the Collector’s office that they (Geeta’s parents and Balasundaram) were barging into the function uninvited after office hours, so they requested not to allow them to avoid any unpleasantness.” Meanwhile, the same SIT headed by an Additional SP is continuing to investigate the case, he said.