Congress Seeks KCR Apology For Police Action On Dalits

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy today demanded that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao tender an unconditional apology for the "atrocities and brutality" shown by the police on the SCs, STs and BCs of Nerella of Thangalappaly mandal in Rajanna-Sircilla district.

In an open letter sent to the Chief Minister on Sunday, Reddy alleged that the police had resorted to "barbaric brutality" on dalits (SCs), and said that KCR's "deafening silence" was shocking.

He said that the Chief Minister needed to tender an unconditional apology for the incident.

"Coming soon after the handcuffing of tribal framers in Khammam, this barbaric third degree torture of dalits in police custody in Sircilla indicates that dalits and tribals have no protection of their human rights in this 'Bangaru Telangana'. The villagers were subjected to unruly behavior, uncivilized abuses, indiscriminate beatings, intimidation and other mistreatment. They were punished by the local police officers in an inhuman way just because they tried to hold a protest against the sand mafia for the movement of hundreds of lorries illegally carrying sand which killed and maimed several people and injured many others in the recent past. How were the dalits kept in illegal custody for five days before they were produced before concerned magistrate? Your son and IT Minister K T Rama Rao is an MLA from Sircilla district. Is it possible that the dalits were taken into illegal custody and tortured for five days without the knowledge of K T Rama Rao? Whose instructions were the local SP and police officers following?" he asked.

Reddy also alleged that the SP and the local police officers might be on the payrolls of the local sand mafia to protect their interests. "Who is running the local sand mafia? Allegations are that they are your party leaders, and some even your relatives. KTR tweets about everything in this world. Why then is he silent on this horrific torture on poor dalits?" he asked.

Reddy said that the abuses of police in the name of caste followed by physical torture by Superintendent of Police Vishwajit Kampati, SIs Ravi and Venkata Krishna and 17 constables could not be explained, and the entire civilized society had been condemning the same.

The TPCC chief said that the incident happened because the police had taken no action in the past despite repeated complaints by the villagers about the illegal movement of lorries and other vehicles in their area by the sand mafia which was causing many accidents. In the present incident, one Bhoomaiah, who belonged to the ST (Errukala) community, died on the spot. That caused a spontaneous reaction from the general public living in the neighbouring villages who were frustrated by the inaction of the police over the months, and that resulted into some commotion and untoward incidents of burning of sand transporting vehicles. It was not a deliberate or organized attempt, and it could not be treated as a law and order problem, he said.

Reddy said that the police however registered fake cases against the villagers, and after taking them into custody on July 4 and torturing them for almost five days, then produced them before a court.

"During their illegal detention in police station, they were beaten, abused and threatened by the SP and other police officers in the name of their caste and community. The Superintendent of Police reportedly went to an extent of saying that he would implicate their women in brothel cases. The language used by police will put any common and civilized man to shame," he said.

Reddy said that the police did follow the guidelines of the Supreme Court of India in cases of arrest and detention. "The entire village is in a state of panic and residents are fearing for their lives and liberty. It is not an exaggeration to say that the youth between 18 to 40 have not returned to the village till date due to fear of the police and implication in false cases," he said.

The TPCC chief demanded that the state government order a probe into the incident through a sitting judge of the High Court. Further, he said that all police personnel responsible for this should be immediately suspended and a case under Section 307 and other relevant sections of the SC/ST Atrocities Prevention Act be booked against them. The state government should also withdraw all the cases registered against the villagers, he said.

"The government should also take action against the sand mafia which is active in Rajanna-Sircilla and other districts. Action should also be taken against their political bosses," he demanded.