Hours after stabbing a 17-year-old minor with a coconut sickle – maiming and grievously injuring her – C Bharath, a first-year degree student, was arrested by the Hyderabad Police on Wednesday, 6 February.
Police have revealed that despite an earlier complaint by the girl’s family and subsequent counselling by the SHE team, a special cell of the Hyderabad Police that deals with women safety, the man went ahead with the crime.
Police say that for the last one year, Bharath had been stalking the minor who lived in the same locality as him, in the Kachiguda area of Hyderabad. On Wednesday, at around 8 am, Bharath attacked the girl outside her home as she was on her way to college.
The accused stabbed the minor multiple times with a coconut sickle, causing injuries to her neck, head and both her hands. She is presently being treated at the Yashoda Hospital in Hyderabad.
A press release by the Hyderabad police stated that "Bharath, alias Sonu, had been following and harassing the girl, claiming to have been in love with her. The girl’s family had earlier approached the SHE team accordingly... the SHE team officials had given counselling to the accused Bharath, but the accused did not change his attitude and continued to observe her movements from the roof of his home."
When Bharath attacked the minor, a few metres away from her home, she screamed, but her mother did not realise that she was calling for help.
In the evening, Yashoda Hospital told The News Minute that the minor is still critical. She is on ventilator support and has not been taken up for surgery as her condition is still unstable, the hospital said.
(This story was first published on The News Minute)
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