Telangana police invoke stringent POCSO provisions against Bageerath

Telangana police have toughened charges against Union Minister Bandi Sanjay’s son, Bandi Sai Bageerath, in the POCSO case, invoking stringent non-bailable provisions carrying a minimum 20-year sentence.

Hyderabad : In a day of fast- moving developments in the case against Bandi Sai Bageerath, son of Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay, Telangana police have altered the section of law applying more stringent provisions of the POCSO Act.

The authorities have now altered the sections of law from Section 11 r/w 12 of the POCSO Act to 5(1) r/w 6 of the Act. The current section of law stipulates a minimum of 20 years’ imprisonment and is stated to be non-bailable. The earlier sections of law dealt with sexual harassment of a child and stipulated a punishment of up to three years’ imprisonment.

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The altered section of law is invoked when the victim suffers serious consequences such as physical incapacity and mental illness.

In addition to this alteration, the Petbasheerabad police had also issued a notice to one Vamshi Krishna, a relative of Union Minister Bandi Sanjay, directing him to appear before investigators along with the Minister’s son, Bandi Sai Bageerath, by 2 pm on Wednesday.

The notice, issued by the Investigating Officer (IO), warns that legal action will be initiated against Vamshi Krishna should he fail to comply. Krishna, a 46-year-old doctor residing in Jyothinagar, Karimnagar, is the maternal uncle of Sai Bageerath. The notice was issued to Vamshi Krishna at Karimnagar, it was said.

The Petbasheerabad police had registered a case against Sai Bageerath on May 8 following the complaint of the mother of a minor victim. In the complaint, it is alleged that on numerous instances, Bageerath had inappropriately behaved with her daughter. She also made a mention of a few instances including a New Year party at a farmhouse in Moinabad where Bageerath had allegedly molested the victim and touched her private parts.

Meanwhile, the DCP Kukatpally, Ritiraj, who is asked by the higher ups to supervise the investigation in the POCSO case further discussed it with the officials concerned on Tuesday. The police want to ensure that thorough investigation is done before questioning Bageerath or making his arrest.

During the day the police teams had visited several places in Karimnagar and Hyderabad to serve notice to Sai Bageerath. However, the police could not find him at any of the places. Hence a notice was issued to Vamshi Krishna.

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) had been demanding the alteration of sections of law in the case, pointing out that lighter sections of law were invoked just to help the influential accused person in the case. The BRS general secretary and former IPS officer RS Praveen Kumar had specifically pointed out this aspect during his press conferences.