She had been missing since afternoon of the previous day. The Lingayat police arrested three men – Shaik Babu (35), Shaik Shaboddin (30) and Shaik Makdum (40) – for her gangrape and murder (FIR number 49/2019). Charges under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act were also invoked.

In a verdict delivered in just two months, a fast-track district court has awarded death sentence to all the three accused. The judgement came on 30 January. A fine of Rs 26,000 each has been imposed on the accused.

The court called it the ‘rarest of rare’ crime.

The Times of India has reported that the trio has also been awarded three years of rigorous imprisonment for dishonest misappropriation of property possessed by deceased person at the time of his or her death. The accused had stolen the woman's phone and cash after the crime.

As per reports, the judgement was delayed by a few weeks as the accused had pleaded mercy from the court, saying they had young children dependent on them.

The News Minute quoted Sathyanarayana, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Asifabad as saying that 25 witnesses were produced before the court. SP Malla Reddy told reporters that the police filed the chargesheet in 20 days.

Gopi told this correspondent that he is satisfied with the judgement. “We had been demanding death for the culprits so we are satisfied,” he says.

SC Commission Had Taken Suo Moto Cognisance

After Lakshmi’s death, Gopi shifted to his native village, Gosampally, in Khanapur mandal of Nirmal district. The area is around 250 km from Hyderabad city.

When Swarajya visited Gopi in the first week of December, his neighbours said that a day after the crime, Gopi poured kerosene on himself and tried to set himself on fire, but they managed to stop him.

After Reddy’s gangrape-murder – which happened three days after Lakshmi’s – created a national outrage, members of several Dalit communities staged protests, and accused the media and the government of discrimination based on caste and social status.

Among other regional publications, Deccan Chronicle reported on 2 December that Lakshmi’s family regretted that civil society’s outrage did not extend to her case.

“This was nothing but social discrimination against Dalits passing through turmoil,” Deccan Chronicle quoted Gopi as saying.

The same day, the New Delhi-based National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) took suo moto cognisance of the report and sanctioned a relief of Rs 8.25 lakh for Lakshmi’s family.