Police highhandedness, torture, political vendetta top findings of Human Rights Commission in Lagacherla incident probe

The most striking part however, is that the NHRC clearly mentions the political vendetta angle, one that the BRS had repeatedly pointed out.

Hyderabad: Highhandedness by the police, torture of villagers and political vendetta by targeting of opposition parties BRS and BJP have been highlighted by the Investigation Division team of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) that did a spot enquiry into the violence at Lagacherla on November 11, 2024, following the Congress government’s attempt to forcibly acquire land for a proposed Pharma Village.

According to the report submitted by the team, villagers who were arrested at night were beaten up at the Parigi police station and were also threatened not to speak about the beating in front of the magistrate. The villagers were kept in the police station but this was not mentioned in the GD entry, it says, also noting that many people who were neither at the spot nor went to any protest and their land is also not affected due to the project were also arrested by the police. Lapses on part of the police regarding non-compliance of legal provisions and guidelines have been noticed as all the persons arrested by the police have stated that they were subjected to physical torture and were threatened not to disclose it before the judicial officer.

While the order of and acquisition was issued by government agencies as per law, the way of handling adopted by police officials was not as per law. The CCTV cameras of the lockup and CI office were found to be not functional, the report says, adding that the GD entries were not updated, indicating the “reckless attitude of police personnel”.

The most striking part however, is that the NHRC clearly mentions the political vendetta angle, one that the BRS had repeatedly pointed out.

“It is to be noted that the angle of political vendetta also erupted during enquiry. Villagers who were supporters of the non-ruling political party were arrested by the police., Some people who had nothing to do with the incident were also arrested because they were supporters of the other political party. Cases were registered against minors, students, government officials, some of them were not even present in the village during the incident on November 11, 2024,” the report clearly mentions.

In view of the findings of the Investigation Division team, the Chief Secretary of Telangana and Director General of Police have been directed to submit reports within six weeks on three aspects. One was that no action should be taken against innocent villagers who have not attacked government officials. The second was that police or civic officers dealing with such crucial subjects directly concerned to means of livelihood of people should be directed to act in a sensible manner, ensuring that human rights of public are not violated.

“It is the duty of the administration to make a fearless and fair environment among the people under their jurisdiction. Therefore, there should be no abuse of power, use of excess force and harassment towards citizens,” the Commission said, also asking to initiate action in this regard so that such incidents do not recur in future.