Key Takeaways
- The #JusticeForBhavyasri campaign gained momentum on social media demanding a transparent probe.
- Bhavyasri’s body was recovered from a well in Venugopalapura, sparking allegations of rape and murder.
- Local villagers staged protests outside the police station, accusing authorities of dereliction of duty.
The #JusticeForBhavyasri campaign is gaining strong ground all across social media, after a 17-year-old girl, Bhavyasri, was found dead in a well on September 21, in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. This happened after she was reported missing. Initially, the police considered it a suicide, but her family and friends have suspected foul play in the death, her torn clothes and injuries being the reasons.
It was on September 17, that Bhavyasri, a resident of Venugopalapura, went missing, and on the following day, the police registered a case of suspicious death, based on a complaint filed by the girl’s father.
Days later, her dead body was found in the well. The body was then shifted to the Chittoor Government Hospital, and the autopsy was conducted.
Based on the forensic report, the police are now conducting an investigation. Four youths have already been detained and questioned, but have not yet been charged.
As per SI Anil Kumar, the postmortem found no injuries on Bhavyasri’s body, and her hair had fallen out because the body was lying in water for so long, but the villagers did not accept this explanation. Further tests are being conducted to determine if this is a case of poisoning or if violence took place. And on the one hand, while the question remains whether she drowned and died, the other aspect for investigation is whether her dead body was brought from elsewhere and then thrown into the well. To figure this out, the police are sending the body’s sternum bone samples for a chemical analysis to Tirupati RFSL.
The family and friends of Bhavyasri, and other villagers, have asked the police for a thorough investigation into the matter, as they suspect this is a case of rape and murder.
The village community has been staging protests outside the police station, alleging dereliction of duty on the police’s part, and demanding fair probe into the matter, leading to the culprits being brought to book.
