Why punish cop for Nerella if he hasn’t done wrong, asks HC

The Hyderabad High Court asked the government why a sub-inspector had been suspended with regard to the alleged torture of Dalits at Nerella when officials were claiming that there was no fault on his part.

A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice J. Uma Devi was dealing with a PIL by Mr Gaddam Lakshman, president of the Civil Liberties Committee, seeking an inquiry either the CBI or a special investigation team into the alleged torture of eight persons belonging to Dalit and BC communities by the police at Nerella in Sircilla district. Mr V. Raghunath, counsel appearing for the petitioner, said the government was distorting the facts.

The bench said that if the sub-inspector had performed his duty as per law he would have been promoted. Why he was suspended, the judges asked.

Earlier, the bench sought to know from Mr J. Ramachandra Rao, additional advocate general, why the police had attacked the villagers, who was responsible for the attack and why did the villagers try to attack the police.

The AAG replied that the villagers gathered on July 3 at Nerella a person was killed in a in road accident on July 2 when a sand-laden lorry rammed into a twowheeler. The police resorted to lathi charge to disperse the villagers who set fire to sandladen trucks.

He said the issue had been politicised after a month of its occurrence and there were political interests involved in this case. He said that the sub-inspector was suspended for exceeding his limits.

He submitted the report of the medical examination of victims of Nerella incident by the doctors’ team of MGM Hospital at Warangal in a sealed cover. After perusing the medical report, the bench said said there was no life threat to the victims.

The bench said that it was seeking reports from the superintendent of Karimnagar Central Prison with regard to condition and injuries of victims and a report from the private hospital in Vemulawada where the victims were treated after being released on bail and also on the SI’s suspension.

The bench said that after perusing those reports it would consider the plea for action against the SP. The bench adjourned the case to August 30.