The Telangana government on Tuesday suspended two policemen for dereliction of duty in a case relating to gangrape of a Dalit girl.
Taking serious note of the reports that the policemen failed to act despite being alerted by the victim's friend, the government suspended a sub-inspector and a head constable.
Kiran, sub-inspector of Veenavanka police station in Karimnagar district, and head constable Parshuram have been suspended.
Earlier in the day, Home Minister N. Narasimha Reddy said strong action would be taken against those found guilty. He said investigation in the case would be speeded up.
Police have already taken into custody three accused including two juveniles for the rape of the 20-year-old Dalit girl, who was attending pre-recruitment coaching classes being offered by the police department.
G. Srinivas (22) and a juvenile raped the girl while another juvenile filmed the act on his mobile phone. All the accused are the victim's batchmates.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Srinivas was taking the victim and another girl on his bike from Challuru village to Shankarapatnam on the pretext of securing study material. The victim's friend jumped off the bike after noticing that Srinivas had diverted the vehicle to another route.
She later called the sub-inspector from mobile phone of her father but the officer told her that he is busy making security arrangements.
The incident had occurred on February 10 but came to light last week after the victim complained to her parents.
The relatives of the victims thrashed the accused, who had to be admitted to a hospital. The accused have been booked under Nirbhaya Act, the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Information Technology Act.
