A group of farmers from Telangana’s Vikarabad district have lodged a complaint with the Telangana State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, alleging that the police assaulted tribal farmers, including pregnant women, in the middle of the night. The complaint alleged that following the attack on Vikarabad district officials in Lagacharla village on November 11, “police personnel violently entered” into tribal residents’ homes from 12 midnight to 6 am by breaking down doors and “assaulted women, including pregnant women, using excessive force.”
Several opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders including MLC Satyavathi Rathod and former IPS officer RS Praveen Kumar, along with the complainants, handed over the complaint to Telangana SC/ST Commission chairperson Bakki Venkataiah on Saturday, November 16.
On November 11, Vikarabad District Collector Prateek Jain, Additional Collector G Lingya Naik, Kodangal Area Development Authority (KADA) chairman Venkat Reddy, and other officials visited Lagacharla village to hold a public hearing about land acquisitions for the pharma cluster. Residents opposing the acquisition of farmland chased the officials away, pelting them with stones and vandalising their vehicles.
The incident in Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s constituency Kodangal sparked a political row with the ruling Congress party blaming the BRS for the attack.
Several accused persons were arrested over the incident, including former BRS MLA from Kodangal, Patnam Narender Reddy. In the remand report, police said that Narender Reddy admitted to inciting the violence as part of an attempt to “destabilise” the government, allegedly under the instructions of BRS leader KT Rama Rao. The police stated that his goal was to gain political advantage and tarnish the reputation of the Telangana government. KTR responded by challenging the Congress-led government under CM Revanth to arrest him.
Saturday’s allegations of police excess have come to light in the wake of these developments. The complaint was filed in the name 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 “women were pushed violently, causing severe injuries, and were forced to flee their homes, taking shelter in nearby forests and farmlands.”
It also alleged that several of the accused persons arrested for the attack on the government officials were framed using false charges. Police have accused those involved in the violence of attempting to murder the government officials. The remand report also said that Collector Prateek Jain suffered bleeding injuries in the attack.
“The next day in a press meet … Collector Prateek Jain had very clearly stated that there was no violence nor did he suffer any injuries of whatsoever kind,” the complaint said, alleging that the charges 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 also manhandled them. The accused who were arrested were also physically assaulted, abused in the name of their caste, and intimidated against mentioning the violence to the magistrate, the complaint alleged.
Bakki Venkataiah said the SC/ST Commission would soon visit Lagacharla village to investigate the allegations.
As of November 16, 25 persons were arrested in connection with the attack on the government officials.