BRS demands CM’s apology, and action on police involved in Lagcherla incident

BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao and other leaders of the party with Lagcherla victims in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

HYDERABAD

Working president of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) K.T. Rama Rao has demanded that the Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy tender an apology to the tribal and other communities of Lagcherla, Hakimpet and a few other villages of his Kodangal constituency for subjecting them to police excesses during the process of land acquisition for a pharma village/cluster there.

Speaking to newspersons here on Tuesday after a group of persons including women from the Kodangal villages met him and handed over ₹1 lakh cheque as their contribution to the BRS’ Silver Jubilee event at Elkathurthi (Warangal), he mentioned how the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in its recent report had grossly condemned the police excesses and had directed the State government to file a compliance report within six weeks.

The BRS leader demanded that the government dismiss immediately the police officers involved in the sexual harassment and human rights violations of Dalit and tribal women. The NHRC report had confirmed the systemic abuse and molestation of women during the controversial land acquisition drive in the Kodangal villages. He accused the police of acting as the “private army” of Mr. Revanth Reddy and said the police officers treated young tribal women inhumanely, crossing all boundaries of decency. The NHRC, led by a retired Supreme Court judge, had validated the victims’ allegations after field visits and directed the State government to act against the guilty within six weeks. It had found that police had subjected the tribal men and women to third-degree torture, threats and beating inside the police stations after making the CCTV cameras non-functional.

Mr. Rama Rao recounted the harrowing testimonies, including a woman telling the NHRC how the police had sexually harassed her and her mother-in-law, while another was beaten badly on her thigh. He stated that BRS would take the matter to the Supreme Court again if the government failed to act on the NHRC report.