Human Rights Forum strongly condemned what it called the brutal attack of the police on the supporters of the State Bandh at the behest of government. The repression perpetrated by the government was unprecedented, said HRF State president Gorrepati Madhava Rao.
He said that at many places in the State the police raided the home of activists of the Opposition parties, mainly of Left parties, and made pre-dawn arrests. Lawyers in Nizamabad city were taken into custody when they took out a motorbike rally in support of the bandh and were wrongfully confined in V Town police station, he added.
Police repeated the same repression at other places and specially targetted the CPI (ML)-New Democracy cadres. Party leader Akula Papaiah was taken into custody in the pre-dawn swoop on Saturday. In Godavarikhani party leaders and IFTU cadres were taken into preventive custody and moved to far off places. In Hyderabad police in an over enthusiastic move to please Chief Minister deliberately slammed the door on the agitators resulting in severe injury to the left thumb of Potu Ranga Rao, he said.
Madhava Rao, on the occasion, sought to remind the government that it was Ranga Rao and CPI (ML) cadres who infused life into the Telangana agitation by strongly resisting the arrest of TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his confinement in Khammam jail in 2009.
He demanded the government book a criminal case against the officers responsible for the injury caused to Mr. Ranga Rao.
