HC directs police to issue notices to accused in case of ‘purification’ at Erravalli
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Justice T. Madhavi Devi on Tuesday directed the Station House Officer of Markoor police station in Siddipet to issue notices to the 21 persons against whom three First Information Reports (FIRs) were issued following charges that they indulged in ‘purification’ by sprinkling turmeric water on the road where Dalits organised a protest demonstration accusing two Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) legislators of abusing Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar.
The judge passed the order after hearing arguments in three separate lunch motions moved by the 21 persons against whom cases were booked under different sections of Bharatitya Nyaya Sanhita and the Prevention of Atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act. The petitioners sought protection from arrest apprehending that the police would land them behind the bars as part the probe.
The judge instructed the investigators to issue notices to all the petitioners under Section 35 (3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Suraksha Sanhita and take further steps in accordance with the law in the matter. During the ongoing Assembly session, an altercation ensued between BRS legislators and the law and order police personnel, who were deployed outside the Assembly main gate, when the latter prevented them from entering the Assembly.
Tempers ran high after two BRS legislators made alleged derogatory remarks and used foul language against the Speaker. Describing this as an attack on Dalits, hundreds of Congress party activists led by their leaders took out rallies and marched towards the farmhouse of former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao at Erravalli in Siddipet district.
After the protest demonstrations were over, some persons, including the petitioners, sprinkled turmeric water on the road near Hanuman temple at Varadarajpur village contending that the protest marches desecrated the area. On these actions of ‘purification’, police issued the FIRs.
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