PNS|Hyderabad
BRS Working President KT Rama Rao on Monday thanked the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for exposing what he described as the “gross violation of human rights” in the Lagacharla village of Telangana, where tribal farmers and women were allegedly subjected to police high-handedness during the Congress Government’s land acquisition drive.
The NHRC report said that villagers who were arrested at night were beaten at the Parigi Police Station and threatened not to speak about the torture before the magistrate. The arrested villagers were detained at the police station, but their detention was not recorded in the general diary, the report said.
The conduct of the police officials was not in accordance with the law. CCTV cameras in the lockup and in the CI’s office were found to be non-functional, the report said. A political vendetta angle also emerged during the inquiry. Villagers who supported a non-ruling political party were targeted and arrested, and some individuals with no connection to the incident were arrested solely because they were supporters of the opposition party, the NHRC report said.
Cases were registered against minors, students and government officials, although some of them were not even present in the village during the incident, the report said.
Reacting strongly to the NHRC’s findings, KTR said the report validated the BRS’s consistent stand that the Revanth Reddy-led government had trampled upon constitutional and democratic norms.
“We have been saying all along that the tribal farmers of Lagacharla were treated brutally. Today, the NHRC has confirmed it,” he said.
