A case has been registered against actor and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan for his claims that the village volunteer system in Andhra Pradesh was being used to aid human trafficking by targeting women who live alone. Based on a complaint by one of the volunteers, the Krishna Lanka police station in Vijayawada booked the Jana Sena chief under sections 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot), 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups) and 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The village and ward volunteer system was launched by the YSRCP government in 2019 to carry out last-mile governance. More than 2 lakh volunteers from various villages were appointed in the system to act as points of access for welfare schemes in the state.

Pawan Kalyan made the controversial statement while speaking at a public meeting in Eluru on Sunday, July 9. Launching a tirade against Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government Pawan Kalyan claimed that senior officials from central surveillance agencies had told him that village volunteers in Andhra Pradesh were surveilling residents and targeting women living alone, to hand them over to anti-social forces who were kidnapping them. He also claimed that senior leaders from the YSRCP government were involved in the alleged trafficking network. However, he did not provide an evidence for these claims.

According to a report by The Hindu, the volunteers who lodged the complaint referred to Pawan Kalyan’s speech and said that it had “insulted” them and was “creating panic among women”.

Following his controversial speech, the Andhra Pradesh Women’s Commission served a notice to Pawan Kalyan asking him to furnish proof of his claims. “Your remarks violate the dignity of single women. Are you making such baseless statements that can create panic among women just for (playing) politics?” the notice asked.