Student Congress leader K Manavatha Roy, who was reportedly
attacked and illegally detained by the police while he was campaigning for his party in Nagarjuna Sagar ahead of the April 17 by-election in the constituency on April 14, today approached the Telangana High Court seeking action against the officers involved in the incident.
(He was allegedly "brutally attacked by TRS workers and the police" in the wee hours of April 14, the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar.)
In his petition, Roy, a student of Osmania University, told the court that the police had not only detained him for 24 hours after illegally arresting him but had also attacked him repeatedly. He said that the police had not issued any notice to him before the arrest.
The young leader then urged the HC to direct the police department to give Rs 25 lakh to him as compensation for arresting him illegally.
He listed Telangana DGP M Mahender Reddy, Nalgonda SP Venkata Ranganath, and several other high-profile officials as respondents in his case.
It is being said that the leaders of the TRS, in cahoots with the police, had orchestrated the arrest to keep him from mobilising support for the Congress candidate for the Nagarjuna Sagar seat, K Jana Reddy. Others, however, feel that he was targeted for his involvement in several protests against the TRS government for its failure to address the issue of rising unemployment in the state. The theory does seem believable as he has been involved in fighting for the cause of the unemployed youth of Telangana for some years now, and was instrumental in setting up the Joint Action Committee of the Unemployed Youth Association.