Journalist Faces FIR for Alleged False Claim on Power Outage in LB Nagar
Hyderabad: The LB Nagar police on Wednesday registered an FIR against a female journalist after an assistant engineer at the operation section of the Hayath Nagar sub division of the Saroornagar division of the TGSPDCL lodged a complaint against her for ‘falsely alleging’ that power was interrupted for seven hours in the area.
In the complaint, the complainant - M Dileep - stated that he ‘received a message from higher officials that one person with username @revathitweets posted a message stating that 07 hours power interrupted in the LB Nagar area.’
He further went on to say that after enquiring with data sheets from substations from the last six months, he noticed that there was no power interruption, and concluded by saying that this was ‘merely a false allegation and intentionally defaming the state government and the TGSPDCL.’
Following the registration of an FIR, Revathi posted on X saying, “MY MEDAL OF HONOR: AN FiR
In a BIZARRE move, an FIR has been lodged against me while the actual culprits from Telangana Power & Co, who harassed a female consumer in broad daylight, walk free!
@RahulGandhi @priyankagandhi @revanth_anumula
- Is this your stance on media independence? Is your government trying to silence journalists who expose the truth?
If you do believe in democracy stand with us when we fight for justice, and protect the freedom of the press!
PS: I chose not to post the video of the harassed woman to protect her privacy. If this is the hooliganism officials unleash on the media, who will protect the people?
#Journalism #PressFreedom #Democracy”
However, the matter started when Revathi, on June 18, posted on X saying, “HARASSMENTC/O TELANGANA POWER & CO!
A woman from LB Nagar, #Hyderabad was terrorized by an unexpected incident today.
Tired of the frequent power cuts, she tweeted about the incident and a lineman drops at her residence and demands her to delete the tweet.
She called the electricity department and told them about this. Requested them not to send them such people to threaten her. The official then tells her that she should call them and not tweet about it because THERE IS TOO MUCH PRESSURE ON THE ELECTRICITY DEPARTMENT FROM THE ‘PEOPLE ABOVE’.
I cross checked the incident…there is a recording of the incident but the woman didn’t want me to share it here because she fears for her safety!
Even when I spoke with her, she said that she is already worried since she lives in a rented accommodation and the #TGSPDCL already knows her address.
I hope the department & the minister in-charge understands that this is harassment. The woman raised a complaint only after suffering many times. Prior to this incident they had a 7hr power cut apparently.
AND please understand that in the age of social media- people will complain on social media! Asking them not to speak because of your inadequacies is NOT right.
SENDING A PERSON HOME TO DEMAND DELETING THE SOCIAL MEDIA POST IS HARASSMENT!
Kindly focus on the solution NOT coverups
#Powercuts #Electricity #Telangana”
Another user tagged along in the conversation and posted, “Happened with me too” and shared a screenshot of his conversation with the TGSPDCL.
However, the power company had responded to Revathi’s tweet asking for details about her discrepancies. They tweeted, "Dear @revathitweets
Please share the consumer details to official phone number of CMD, TGSPDCL’s shared in you DM (to maintain anonymity of the consumer)