Hyderabad Rape Case: The Horror and the Shame

At about 6.10 pm, just as it was getting dark on November 27, Disha (name changed to protect identity), parked her red Hero Maestro scooter near the Tondupally toll plaza in Shamshabad on the Nehru Outer Ring Road (ORR) skirting Hyderabad. The 27-year-old veterinarian boarded a share taxi to Gachibowli, some 26 km away, to keep her appointment with a dermatologist. When she returned at around 9 pm, Disha was dismayed to find that her two-wheeler had a flat. The driver of a lorry parked nearby, Mohammed Arif, and his assistant, Jollu Shiva, offered to help. They persuaded her to allow Shiva to take the scooter for repairs.

Unsure as to whether she was doing the right thing, a tense Disha tried to call her younger sister. Even before she could connect, Arif offered to share his mobile number and dialled her phone to establish his bonafides and win her