Opposition parties meet DGP over Sircilla incident

The representatives of opposition parties meet Dgp Anurag Sharma on Friday and sought action against Sircilla-Rajanna District SP and other policemen who allegedly tortured Dalits and others.

A delegation comprising of TPCC Working President Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Telangana TDP Working President A. Revanth Reddy, CPI Telangana State Secretary Chada Venkat Reddy and other leaders, met the DGP at his office and demanded immediate action. In their representation, they said that the incident of burning of three lorries in Nerella village on July 2 was the result of police inaction on the repeated complaints lodged by the villagers on rising accidents in the region. They said villagers were agitated over the death of one B. Bhudaiah, an ST, in a road accident caused due by a lorry carrying sand. “Number of people died, from time to time, in the accidents committed by the speeding lorries in villages such as Nerella and Jillella village of Thangallapalli Mandal, Siricilla Rajanna District. The local police who have never acted on the complaints of villagers regarding innumerable deaths caused by the speeding lorries,” they said.

Further, they said three trucks were set ablaze by a mob. “Having failed to identify the true culprits and succumbing to the pressure from the sand contractor and the local MLA, the police have picked up eight innocent persons named Penta Banaiah, Gandham Gopal, Chepyala Balaraju, Kola Harish,. Pasula Eashwar Kumar, Cheekoti Srinivas, Kolukanti Ganesh and Bathula Mahesh (five belonging to SC community and three belonging to OBC community), from their houses in the middle of the night,” they said.

The opposition leaders alleged that the Superintendent of Police, Vishwajit Kampati, and his staff have subjected the villagers to severe third degree torture, beating indiscriminately, pouring hot water on their private parts, gave electric shocks and administered sedatives continuously for four days. “They were produced before Judicial Magistrate after four days of torture i.e on 8th July. The Jailer, having found severe injuries on their bodies referred the eight victims to hospital for treatment. The victims suffered severe injuries and some of them are unable to walk. The police threatened the victims to keep quiet, lest they would book false cases against them and their family members, showing them as prostitutes and drug peddlers,” they said.

They also briefed the DGP on the visit of former Speaker of Lok Sabha Meira Kumar to Karimnagar Jail on July 31 wherein she interacted with four of the victims. “The SC victims complained that the SP who bet them black and blue also abused them by taking their caste name,” they said.

“The victim families and their children have completely lost hopes on their lives as victims have more or less become invalid or incapacitated due to the brutality committed on them by the police. So far, no cases have been booked against sand contractors for these deaths. No enquiry has been initiated by the government on police brutalities, no cases have been booked under the SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the SP, his staff and police officials who have committed the atrocities on SCs,” they said.

The representatives of opposition parties urged the DGP to take cognizance of the case and direct the police officials to register cases under SC ST POA Act against the SP and the police officials who have tortured, institute an independent enquiry and provide proper compensation and protection to the victims and their family members.