Gulte Movie News And Politics
Actress Pratyusha’s death remains one of the most controversial and discussed cases in Telugu cinema history, with persistent allegations of rape and murder versus the official conclusion of suicide. The Supreme Court delivered its verdict today in this case after 23 years.
Basing on the available evidence, the Supreme Court ruled out Rape and Murder but charged Pratyusha’s Boyfriend, Siddharth Reddy with abetment of suicide and charged him with two years of jail.
Leaving aside the debate whether justice was done, here we go into the history of the case for people who are not aware.
On February 23, 2002, Pratyusha and her boyfriend, Gudipalli Siddhartha Reddy, were admitted to Care Hospital in Hyderabad after allegedly consuming poison (pesticide mixed with a soft drink). The narrative was that they tried to end their lives since their parents did not accept their relationship due to caste reasons.
Pratyusha passed away on February 24, 2002, at the age of 20, while Siddhartha Reddy survived.
While the Police registered the case as suicide, Pratyusha’s mother Sarojini Devi maintained that Pratyusha was raped by Siddharth Reddy and his friends and strangled her before being poisoned.
She alleges that children of some influential people of the then Government were involved and the Government tried to cover it up. The scene was staged as suicide/poisoning, and evidence like the initial forensic report was suppressed.
She also alleged that semen samples and other evidence in Pratyusha’s body were tampered to drop the charges.
A local forensic expert, Dr. B. Muni Swamy, initially suggested “manual strangulation.” Back then, he gave a sensational interview. But suspiciously, he was suspended for “baseless” claims after review.
Those were the initial days of the advent of 24 hours Telugu News Channels who ran hours of programs with conspiracy theories about the involvement of gang rape by “rich brats” and Political Coverup.
Two years after Prathyusha’s death, a local sessions court convicted Siddhartha Reddy for abetment of suicide (Section 306) and attempt to suicide (Section 309), sentencing him to 5 years in prison.
Siddharth Reddy and Pratyusha’s mother approached the High Court over the sentence, the Andhra Pradesh High Court reduced his sentence to 2 years but increased the fine to ₹50,000. They again appealed to the Supreme Court next year.
The Supreme Court dismissed all appeals. It ruled out murder and rape, confirming the cause of death as poisoning. Siddhartha Reddy’s conviction for abetment was upheld, and he was ordered to surrender within four weeks.
Siddharth Reddy maintained low profile since then. There was no information about his whereabouts. But there were rumors of him getting happily married and settled abroad. He may have served a majority of the two years jail term already and so, he will have to only stay behind the bars only for few days now.
Pratyusha’s mother, Sarojini Devi was a Government School Teacher prior to Pratyusha’s film stint. After Prathyusha’s death, she started a charity in her daughter’s name. She gave many interviews all these years making the allegations of Gang Rape and Murder.
She appeared in court hearings including Supreme Court proceedings pressing for a stricter sentence or reclassification to murder.
The verdict will disappoint her big time and the larger public sentiment will also echo the same opinion.
