Hyderabad / New Delhi: Protests were held at several places on Saturday against the rape and murder of a 25-year-old veterinarian in Hyderabad with an angry crowd hurling stones at the police personnel, who escorted the four accused to jail from a police station in the Telangana capital, and demanding that the culprits be handed over to them.
The accused were sent to judicial custody for 14 days by the executive magistrate who passed the order at the Shadnagar police station, where they were lodged, as they could not be produced in court due to the presence of the large number of protesters outside the police station.
Stones were hurled at a police vehicle as the accused were being taken to the jail in Hyderabad, and police used force to dispel the crowd.
National Commission for Women (NCW) member Shyamala Kundar, who was here to inquire into the incident, said she has recommended action against policemen, after an inquiry, as they allegedly did not respond on time to a complaint from the victim's family.
Protests were also held by different student groups and others at various places in Telangana demanding severe punishment to the accused. The local bar association has said it will not offer any legal assistance to the accused in the case.
Amid widespread outrage over the incident, which brought back painful memories of the 2012 Nirbhaya case, a candle light march was taken out at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
The latest case of the veterinarian in Hyderabad, who was gang raped and then burnt, has brought the issue of women's safety in the country in focus again as the central government has "failed" to protect them, said Amrish Ranjan Pandey, media in-charge of the Indian Youth Congress which organised the protest.