Congress Leaders Meet Arrested OU Students In Jail

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Tuesday accused the TRS government of implicating Osmania University students in false cases after they had protested against the suicide of OU student E Murali.

Accompanied by senior leaders T Jeevan Reddy, Geetha Reddy, Rammohan Reddy, Akula Lalitha and Santosh Kumar, Youth Congress president Anil Kumar Yadav, and TPCC Legal Cell chairman Damodar Reddy, the TPCC chief met students' leaders Pratap Reddy, Manavta Rai, Ellanna, Durgam Bhaskar and 22 others lodged at the Chanchalguda Jail, on Tuesday.

Speaking to mediapersons later, Reddy alleged that nearly 40 students and student leaders were detained illegally and implicated in false cases by the TRS government.

He said that in a flagrant violation of human rights, the student leaders were sent directly to jail without first being produced before a magistrate.

The Congress would approach the High Court and the Supreme Court against these illegal cases and arrests, Reddy fumed.

The TPCC chief also blamed the TRS government for Murali's suicide, claiming that the student had resorted to the extreme step due to lack of government jobs.

"Murali's suicide reflects the level of disappointment prevalent among the students and jobless youth. But KCR has become so arrogant that he did not even express condolences over the death. Instead, he unleashed terror on the students and turned Osmania University into a war zone. Even the suicide note was allegedly fabricated to hush up the matter. Over 40 students have been jailed at a time when exams are going on at the university," he said.

Accusing the state government of resorting to a dictatorial approach, the TPCC chief said that one of the arrested leaders Pratap Reddy, who had contested against KCR from Gajwel in the 2014 elections, had come to Osmania University upon hearing the news of Murali's death as he hailed from the same village. However, Reddy was brutally thrashed by the police, implicated in a false case and jailed, Reddy claimed.

"We never expected to witness such things every day after the formation of Telangana. The new state was not created for the benefit of KCR and his family. He is ruthlessly suppressing all kinds of protests by the opposition parties, NGOs, students and JACs, and implicating his opponents in false cases. Dalits were tortured and booked in false cases in Nerella, farmers in Khammam were chained and handcuffed, and now we have this," he said.

Reddy also alleged that the TRS government had been pressuring the media to suppress Murali's suicide, and urged the mainstream media to introspect their approach towards the issue. He asked the media to show the truth without any fear or favour.