Andhra Pradesh: SC/ST court acquits 13 cops accused of gang-rape of 11 tribal women in 2007
Op IndiaOn Thursday, April 6, the special judge for SC and ST cases in Andhra Pradesh acquitted 13 cops accused in the gang-rape of 11 tribal women in Vakapalli in G Madugula Mandal of ASR district in the year 2007. 11 tribal women gangraped by Andhra Pradesh policemen Notably, the case pertains to a sexual assault incident that took place 15 years ago. In August 2007, eleven tribal women belonging to Vakapalli village under Nurmati Panchayat of G Madugula Mandal about 650 km from Hyderabad had alleged that 13 policemen, who were part of a 30-member Special Party of Andhra Pradesh Police and had visited their village for anti-Naxal combing operation, raped them on gunpoint. Lawyers defending the officers contended that Maoists forced the women to file false rape charges against them in order to prevent anti-Naxalite combing operations and that medical testing failed to confirm rape.