Hyderabad: Members of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) from various women’s rights organisations were prevented from visiting Lagcherla by the Telangana police in Thunkumetla village, Bomraspet mandal, Tuesday, November 19.
The activists were en route to the villages of Lagcherla and Rotibanda Tanda to visit female victims of alleged police violence that occurred on the night of November 11. According to local reports, a scuffle broke out between the victims and the police, during which some had their clothing torn by the officers.
The JAC, representing a diverse coalition of women’s rights organizations, established a fact-finding committee to investigate and document the reported violence.
This alleged police action followed resistance from the tribal communities against land acquisition for a proposed pharmaceutical company in their villages. Village residents claim that police entered their homes in the middle of the night, forcibly taking men from their families while attacking the women present.
The fact-finding team included prominent activists such as Sandhya, Padmaja Shaw, Sister Lizzy, Jhansi, Anasuya, Geetha, and other JAC members. The women’s rights activists condemned the police’s actions and questioned why they were being barred from meeting the women in the villages.
They pointed out that they had informed both the district police superintendent and MLC M Kodandaram about their visit in advance. The activists asked, “If the police have not committed any violence against the tribal women in these villages, why are they so concerned about preventing the fact-finding committee from interacting with the affected families?”
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