Vijayawada: Police twist in Jagan Mohan Reddy's protest

Vijayawada: It has been found that some police personnel had purchased tickets of Sri Lankan airways and other airlines on the day YSRC chief Jagan Mohan Reddy and others sat on a dharna on the runway of Visakhapatanam airport. Following prior information that YSRC leaders might create some nuisance there, the Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner had reportedly advised some police personnel to get air tickets of different airlines and deployed them at sensitive points of the sterile area.

As per the Civil Aviation Act, no person other than passengers and staff is permitted on the ground or should be allowed on the runway and the Police Commissioner thoroughly knew this. Citing the same Act, he had directed Jagan Mohan Reddy and Vijayasai Reddy to vacate the runway. The DGCA and BCAS have asked the airport authorities and airlines to send the list of passengers who had taken tickets on that day.

Airports are under the security supervision of CISF and the local police have no jurisdiction to enter the runway or parking bay or tarmac, unless a complaint is lodged by the CISF in the jurisdictional police station.

"I am given to understand that no such complaint was lodged by the CISF in any police station.  So, this clearly indicates that the entry of local police into the airport and that too at parking bay of aircraft was a blatant violation of law. Moreover, physically preventing me from moving freely through the territory of India is a grave violation of my fundamental right under Article 19(1) (d) of the Constitution of India," Vijayasai Reddy mentioned in his letter. He said the district administration has included his name in its list of dignitaries, extending the protocol as he has opted Visakhapatnam as his nodal district.

Complaint in RS over violations:

The complaint lodged by Rajya Sabha member Vijayasai Reddy to the Upper House Chairman Hamid Ansari about manhandling of YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy at Visakhapatnam airport has taken a new dimension. The complaint has landed the Visakhapatnam police commissioner in trouble following the finding by airport security that some police personnel had entered the ‘sterile area’ of the airport guised as passengers.

This was detected by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in its preliminary check, according to a senior airport officer. The DGCA and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) is probing the matter. On January 31, the member wrote a letter to Mr Ansari, saying that he was submitting a notice of breach of privilege under Rule 187 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States to stress the high-handedness by Andhra Pradesh state police officials, particularly Chitti Babu, ACP, city task force, and Mr. Murali, sub-inspector of police.

"These police officials not just illegally detained me, but also manhandled me using abusive language on Jan. 26, 2017, at Visakhapatnam airport," Vijayasai Reddy mentioned in his letter, a copy of which is in the possession of Deccan Chronicle. The MP stated that he had arrived at Vishakhapatnam airport from Hyderabad by Spice Jet flight at 4 pm on Jan. 26.

"When I, along with my party president and Leader of Opposition in AP Assembly  and other colleagues, were about to board the bus that had arrived at parking bay to take us to the arrival lounge, we were encircled by some police officers and other ‘miscreants’, who pretended to be policemen, but were not in uniform. These people prevented me from boarding the bus and pushed us around rudely," Vijayasai Reddy wrote in the letter.

"The police detained us for two hours on the runway/parking bay itself. And, after two hours, we were taken to lounge within the airport where the commissioner, Visakhapatnam City Police, came and informed us that government had bought return tickets by Air India flight and we should return to Hyderabad and we were forcibly boarded upon a return flight to Hyderabad," Vijayasai Reddy stated in the letter.