More than 18 years after the brutal rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl rocked Andhra Pradesh, the long legal battle ended on Friday without justice for her family, as her parents were handed over a bag containing the skeletal remains of their daughter inside a Vijayawada court.
At the special CBI court, the victim’s 62-year-old father and 60-year-old mother stood silently as court officials handed over a bag containing what remained of their daughter’s remains. Outside court, the mother told reporters that her trust in the justice system had been completely shattered.
“After 18 years of struggle, this is what we got,” she said. “Our hopes are dead. Even the last shred of belief that justice will be served has evaporated. We have had to fight in court to even recover parts of our daughter’s body.”
The victim, a first-year Bachelor of Pharmacy student, was found murdered in her hostel room in Vijayawada on December 27, 2007. An autopsy report later confirmed that she had been raped.
In 2008, police arrested Pedathala Satyam Babu on charges of rape and murder, and he was later sentenced to life imprisonment in 2010. Seven years later, he was acquitted by the Andhra Pradesh High Court, which directed the police to launch a fresh investigation. The High Commission then handed over the case to the Central Bank of Iraq in November 2018. A year later, the agency exhumed the victim’s body for another post-mortem examination.
Earlier this month, the CBI submitted a final report in the case, citing a lack of evidence and a lack of reasons to move forward. On February 21, Justice Annapurna’s court issued an order closing the case after examining the final report, people familiar with the matter said.
After receiving their daughter’s body on Friday, the parents buried her remains in the Chinchupit cemetery.
