HCU violence: Cops abused us, say students of Hyderabad varsity
Women students were threatened with rape, says Amnesty International.
Hyderabad: While the Telangana state police is preparing to constitute an inquiry committee on the alleged police brutalities in the University of Hyderabad after an announcement by CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao, there have been several allegations by students about torture and abuse by the cops.
The main allegations by the detained students are that they were tortured and threatened in the police vans during their transit. Legal experts pointed out that Cyberabad police had violated the Constitutional rights of the arrested students by not producing them before court within 24 hours. According to the lawyers, police took more than 30 hours to produce them before the magistrate.
Read:Well-known activist Uzramma blames Telangana for police action
The students, who received bail on Monday, have alleged that they were taken to at least five police stations — Kukatpally, Moinabad, Narsingi, Miyapur and Nacharam — during the 30 hours, and the cops threatened them throughout. The students had spoken about their ordeal to friends and family members who visited them in jail.
Prasheel Anand Banpur, a PhD scholar who met Dontha Prashanth, Manne Krishank, Goutham Uyyala and Mudavath Venkatesh who were in custody, said that the cops had beat them brutally during transit.
Read:HCU violence: Cops tried to please Centre, says Sushil Kumar Shinde
Soon after the arrest, the students were taken in two groups to the Gachibowli police station. After their particulars were taken, they were transported in two trucks to the Kukatpally police station, then to Miyapur police station, and to Narsingi police station, where they spent the night.
“Cops called them anti-nationals and threatened them. They slapped them and asked how dare they mess with cops,” said another student who had visited them.
Read:HCU voilence: Hyderabad varsity's faculty and students get bail
A fact-finding committee constituted by human rights activists including, Amnesty International, revealed in its interim report that the cops had even threatened female students with rape. Reacting to the issue, Telangana DGP Anurag Sharma said that the police would constitute a committee to look into the allegations.
SC/ST faculty, others to go on mass leave
Members of the UoH SC/ST Faculty Forum and some other faculty members will be going on a mass casual leave on Tuesday in protest against the prevailing situation in the university following the police crackdown on March 22 and allegations of human rights violation by police.
The forum said in a release, “The police resorted to unwarranted and disproportionate show of force on the protesting students and neutral bystanders. Unwarranted beating up of the protesters continued even after their arrests.
All the essential services, especially food and water on the UoH campus and particularly in the students’ hostels were unilaterally stopped. The university administration made no alternative arrangements to alleviate the distressing situation on the campus.”
VC approves negotiation committee
The UoH on Monday constituted a seven-member committee approved by VC Prof. Appa Rao Podile to negotiate with protesting students. A circular released by the university stated that the committee would hold negotiations on “matters that are negotiable” from the list of demands made by the protesting students. The protesting students said they would not negotiate with the committee till the VC resigns.