Telangana: NHRC takes cognizance of Lagacharla incident, seeks report

Hyderabad, Nov (IANS) The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken cognizance of a complaint from the residents of Lagacharla village of Vikarabad district in Telangana, alleging police harassment, physical abuse, and false criminal charges.

These actions allegedly occurred after the villagers protested the state's land acquisition for a proposed "Pharma Village" without following proper procedures, the NHRC said in a press release.

The NHRC issued notices to the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, Telangana calling for a detailed report on the matter within two weeks.

The Commission also decided to send a joint team of its Law and Investigation officers for on-the-spot enquiry into the matter and submit a report within one week.

Most of the victims of the alleged atrocities claim to be from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Communities. The complaint has been submitted by at least 12 victims who visited the Commission praying for its intervention to save them from starvation in the matter.

The District Collector accompanied by other officials allegedly arrived at the Lagacharla village on November 11 to announce the forcible land acquisition for the proposed Pharma project. The same evening hundreds of police personnel allegedly accompanied by some local goons raided the village and assaulted the protesting villagers. They did not even spare the pregnant women.

The internet services and the electricity supply were also allegedly shut down to ensure no communication could be made with anyone for help. The police, allegedly, registered FIRs on false complaints against the villagers including women forcing some of the victims to leave their houses in fear and to take shelter in forests and farmlands without food, medical aid, basic amenities etc, the NHRC said.

The Commission observed that the contents of the complaint, if true, raise a serious issue of violation of human rights, which is indeed a matter of concern. Accordingly, it has issued notices to the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, Telangana calling for a detailed report on the matter within two weeks.

The report is expected to include the status of the FIRs, persons in judicial custody and the villagers who out of fear, are allegedly hiding in the forest areas without basic amenities. The Commission would also like to know whether any medical examination of the victim women was done and medical care provided to the injured villagers.

Allegedly, the State government has decided to set up a Pharma Village in Kodangal constituency by unilaterally acquiring 1,374 acres despite already having 16,000 plush acres of land acquired by the previous government for setting up an ultra-modern Pharma City.

The land which is now being forcefully acquired without any prior notice, is fertile agricultural land owned and acquired for generations, by the persons belonging to SC/ ST and OBC categories and the farmers have been protesting against it for more than 4-5 months.