Telangana SC/ST Commission to investigate alleged police violence in a number of pharmaceutical projects

A group of farmers from Telangana’s Vikarabad district filed a complaint with the Telangana State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, alleging that police attacked tribal farmers, including pregnant women, in the middle of the night. The complaint alleged that after the attack on Vikarabad district officials in Lagacharla village on November 11, “policemen forcefully entered” the homes of the tribals from 12 am to 6 am, breaking open the doors and “assaulted women, including pregnant women, using excessive force strength power”.

Several opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders, including MLC Satyavathi Rathod and former IPS officer RS ​​Praveen Kumar, along with the complainants, submitted the complaint to Telangana SC/ST Commission Chairman Bakki Venkataiah on Saturday, November 16.

On November 11, Vikarabad District Collector Pratik Jain, Additional Collector G Lingya Naik, Kodangal District Development Authority (KADA) Chairman Venkat Reddy and other officials visited Lagacharla village to hold a public hearing on land acquisition for the pharmaceutical cluster. Residents opposed to the acquisition of agricultural land chased the officials away, pelting them with stones and damaging their vehicles.

The incident in Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s Kodangal constituency sparked a political row with the ruling Congress party blaming BRS for the attack.

Several accused, including former BRS MLA from Kodangalu Putnam Narender Reddy, have been arrested in connection with the incident. In a remand report, police said Narender Reddy had confessed to inciting violence as part of an attempt to “destabilize” the government, allegedly at the behest of BRS leader K. T. Rama Rao. Police said his aim was to gain political advantage and tarnish the image of the Telangana government. KTR responded by challenging the Congress-led government under CM Revanth to arrest him.

Saturday’s allegations of police overreach came to light after those events. The complaint was filed on behalf of a group of Lagacharla residents from the Lambada tribe. It said that on the night of the attack on the government officials, police entered their homes and “the women were brutally pushed, causing serious injuries, and were forced to flee their homes, hiding in nearby forests and farmlands.”

It also alleged that several of the accused arrested for attacking government officials were framed on trumped-up charges. The police accused those involved in the violence of attempting to kill government officials. The remand report also stated that Collector Pratik Jain suffered bleeding injuries during the attack.

“The next day during a press conference…Collector Pratik Jain very clearly stated that there was no violence and he was not injured,” the complaint said, alleging that the allegations against the accused were politically motivated.

The complaint also alleged that Congress party workers accompanied the police and used casteist abusive language against SC and ST women in the village and ill-treated them. The arrested accused were also subjected to physical assault, caste insults and intimidation, not to mention the magistrate’s violence, the complaint alleged.

Bakki Venkataiah said the SC/ST commission would soon visit Lagacharla village to investigate the allegations.

As of November 16, 25 people were detained in the case of an attack on government officials.