Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy and Congress Legislature Party leader in Assembly Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Monday urged Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan to take stringent action on the police for the lockup death of Dalit woman Mariyamma under SC and ST Atrocities Act.
In an open letter written to the Governor jointly, the TPCC chief and the CLP leader demanded the Governor to take steps to prevent such incidents in Telangana in the future.
They also demanded the Governor to direct the state government to give Rs 50 lakh compensation to the family of the Mariyamma and a government job to her son Uday Kiran.
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They informed the Governor that Mariyamma has died in the custody of the police after she has been tortured by Adla Guduru police.
Giving the details of the custodial death of the Dalit woman, Uttam Kumar Reddy and Vikramarka said that Mariyamma was a native of Komatigudem village of Chintakanipalli mandal of Khammam district. She has been working as cook in a house in Govindapuram village of Adla Guduru mandal of Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri district.
They informed that police have arrested Mariyamma and her son Uday Kiran on the charge of theft in the home where she has been working. Mother and son were arrested on June 16 in Komatigudem village and were taken to Adla Guduru police station. They were brought to Chintakanipalli police station by the Adla Guduru and Komatigudem police in the evening of June 17.
They said rules that women police should be present when a woman is arrested and women should not be interrogated in the police station during the night time were violated when Mariyamma was arrested and interrogated.
They said that both the son and mother were subjected to severe torture with third-degree methods in the Chintakanipalli police station from 10.30 pm to 3.30 am. They were brought to Adla Guduru police station again and interrogated using third-degree methods.
Mariyamma died due to the severe torture of the police before the eyes of her own son Uday Kiran. Uday Kiran is being treated in a hospital in Khammam, they informed.
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Reddy and Vikramarka said that police are trying to wash their hands by stating that death occurred due to a heart attack. The police have been conniving to erase all the evidence and to hide the facts. “Without any doubt, the death of Mariyamma was a murder committed by the police,” they said.
The Congress leaders said that several such incidents have taken place in Telangana in the past few years. Seelam Rangaiah of Ramagiri village of Manthani Mandal of Peddapalli district died in the police lockup. Before that, a person called Madhukar, a Dalit youth was murdered for loving a girl of another caste in the Manthani area.
Similarly, a youth called Revella Raju Babu was murdered by higher caste people in Mallaram village of Malhar Mandal of Bhupalapalli district. A Dalit farmer Baggery Narasimhulu committed suicide as his land has been acquired by the government in Vargal of Gajwel Mandal of Siddipet district. Police have arrested and tortured several Dalit persons illegally when they objected to the mining of sand against the rules in Nerella of Siricilla district.
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The TPCC chief and the CLP leader said that such atrocities and police highhandedness against the Dalits were galore in Telangana after its formation. They demanded the Governor to take steps to provide protection to the SCs of the state from the atrocities and to see that they did not recur.
SOURCE-NSS
