AMARAVATI: TDP president and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has described the burning alive of State Bank of India employee Sneha Latha in Anantapur district as a ghastly incident that was more horrific than even the Nirbhaya and Disha tragic atrocities in the country. Blaming the YCP government’s negligence for such atrocities, Naidu demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to bring out the facts and to nab the culprits responsible for the girl’s murder. Over 400 horrific attacks were committed on women, girls and even minor girls in the state and the CBI should conduct a comprehensive probe into all these incidents.
Addressing a press conference here, the TDP chief asked why Chief Minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy did not go to Anantapur to initiate immediate action and to console the victimised family, though the CM was currently touring the neighbouring district of Kadapa. Had Jagan Reddy responded and taken stern action against the culprits in the first two or three incidents, the law and order situation would not have slipped into this sorry state now. Very strangely, Jagan Reddy was not opening his mouth on atrocities being committed on women. The CM spoke of how concerned about the safety of girls he is since he too had daughters, but he was not taking action against the perpetrators of atrocities.
Naidu said that cases should be booked against the police who did not take immediate action when Sneha Latha’s parents complained about the harassment. It was so pathetic that the culprits had even beaten the girl in the college once. Sneha was brave and a national level volleyball player, but she had fallen victim to the miscreants because of the indifference of the police and the government. Even now, the Chief Minister was not giving any demonstrative action to warn that the perpetrators of such atrocities would be dealt with sternly. The CM remained silent on many such atrocities in the past like in the case of the gangrape of a minor Dalit girl in Rajahmundry, Naidu alleged.
Stating that the Disha Act was a non-existent law, Naidu said that the Jagan Reddy regime was not even using the existing laws to give punishment to the culprits. The YCP modus operandi was to encourage these anti-social elements and miscreants in order to use them only for its political ends. Even the attack in Tadipatri today was just a ploy to divert the attention of the public from the burning issue of Sneha Latha murder. In Ongole, a disabled girl was burnt to death in her tricycle itself but the Government and the police were terming it as a suicide. How can a disabled girl get petrol and set herself ablaze in her own tricycle? The CM was not caring to break his silence on such ghastly incidents, Naidu alleged.