Karnati Fatima
VIJAYAWADA: A dispute over wearing mask led to the killing of a 19-year-old girl at Rentachintala in Guntur district. The incident took place on July 3 but came to light on Saturday after the girl died while being treated. The deceased was identified as Karnati Fatima (19).
According to C H Suresh, the sub-inspector of Rentachintala, the dispute started when the Fatima’s mother questioned one Annapureddy Mallikharjuna (19) as to why he was roaming around without wearing a mask.
Earlier, Mallikharjuna and his brother chided Fatima’s father Yalamanda who works as a rickshaw puller for not wearing mask. When they have chided her husband for not wearing mask, she raised the issue as to how he is roaming around the village without wearing the mask.
Mallikharjuna entered into a verbal dual with Fatima’s mother which soon after turned into a physical fight as his brother Venkatesh (24) father Srinu (43) and uncle Samba (30) joined him and attacked Yalamanda and his wife with sticks.
As her parents were attacked, Fatima went for their rescue and tried to stop Mallikharjuna and other. However, in the process Fatima was hit by a stick on her head. She collapsed on the spot with severe injury. She was rushed to Guntur for better treatment but succumbed to the head injury that caused internal bleeding after one week.
Police registered a case under sections 324 and 509 read with section 34 of IPC but later altered the case under section 302 of IPC and arrested all the four involved in the attack. This is the second incident of attack over the dispute on wearing mask in a span of two weeks. A tourism department employee was attacked by her colleague for asking to wear mask in Nellore district recently.
