Autorickshaw driver booked under IT Act for filming rape of destitute and transmitted to police WhatsApp

Wednesday, October 25, 2017 
Visakhapatnam

The city police has booked the autorickshaw driver who allegedly filmed the rape episode and transmitted it to the police WhatsApp and booked him under IPC Section 354C which states that any man who watches or captures the image of a woman engaging in a private act can be booked and IT Act 67 A which covers punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act etc., in electronic form.

Sources said that Ganji Siva (21), a lorry driver allegedly raped a 35 year old destitute in public glare near Srinivasa Kalyana Mandapam in Railway New Colony on Sunday afternoon. The act was filmed by the auto driver and transmitted to the police App and based on which the police acted and arrested the accused.

Slapping of the IPC and IT act on the auto driver has evoked mixed response among the public. While some say that the auto driver had done a good job by transmitting the image to the police and the police should not act against him, some say that he should have stopped youth and rescued the women.

The police have a different version. They said that the auto driver should have filmed, transmitted and kept the video clip as evidence. He should not have let out to the media and others. Now, the privacy of a rape victim is exposed and this is insensitive said a senior police officer. His intentions may have been right but the video clip has gone viral and it is being used in sleazy sites. The privacy of woman, whoever she may be, is lost, he added. However, we have to go by rules, he said.