Hyderabad: Three software engineers from Hyderabad and a Mumbai cinematographer staying at the Hilltop Mrugavani, Eagalapenta, a resort on the Srisailam road, shared their experience about a distressing situation on Saturday midnight, June 22, as local police visited their rooms to supposedly verify their IDs.
According to the reports, the staff requested the police check their Aadhaar cards and other details in the register; they insisted on checking the rooms personally and began knocking at the rooms.
One of the guests shared their experience on X and said, “Policemen are knocking down our door and harassing and morally policing us at 1.30 am at Hilltop Mrugavani, Eegalpenta. There are no female police in sight; they are shouting at women. We are feeling extremely unsafe and insecure. Help…”
Tagging Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and others, Majumdar further tweeted, “Please help us understand this law under your administration where state police can harass women at night by barging into their rooms.”
Hyderabad techie Arani Majumdar recounted their experience to Moneycontrol, stating that they had initially booked a double room for himself and a friend at Hilltop Murugavani Resorts. When two additional friends joined for the weekend trip, he contacted the resort to request another room, but none were available.
“During multiple calls with the resort staff, we were assured that they would provide us with mattresses in the same room and did not seem to have any problem with the arrangement. When we checked in, they asked for my ID proof because the room was booked in my name, and I gave it to them,” he further added.
Arani Majumder, a software engineer, elaborated on the incident and said, “The police sub-inspector, D Veeramallu, told us outright that four men and women living in the same room go against Indian culture and started to berate us.”
“But when we started recording, he switched to talking about security concerns,” he added.
Whereas, Eagalapenta Sub-Inspector Veeramallu stated that senior officers had instructed them to conduct surprise checks. “As part of our regular duty, we checked the antecedents of the guests. In one room, there were two men and two women, and when checked, only one individual had identity proof,” Veeramallu explained.
He also noted that the hotel staff had not collected ID proofs from all four guests. They were directed to collect identification from all guests, particularly unmarried individuals.
