Osmania violence: Andhra govt moves apex court

In a move that can further alienate Telangana leaders, activists and students, the Andhra Pradesh government filed an appeal in the Supreme Court on Thursday against the high court order to remove the central forces from Osmania University campus.

Admitting the appeal for hearing, the Supreme Court observed that deployment of paramilitary force in the campus was "painful".

The apex court will take up the case for further hearing on Friday.

The state government has gone ahead with its plan to file an appeal in the Supreme Court despite strong opposition from Telangana leaders including some Congressmen.

The Andhra Pradesh high court on Thursday again vented its anger at the lawless behaviour of the police force in the Osmania University campus on Sunday and Monday, when the police excesses left a large number of students and journalists injured. The policemen and paramilitary personnel, who had gone on a rampage after stone pelting by the students, had also damaged and burnt the vehicles of journalists and smashed at least eight cameras of various television channels.

A senior Congress leader from Telangana sharply criticising the government's decision said it was part of the plan to crush the movement for separate Telangana state.

Even as the state government moved the Supreme Court, Congress Members of Parliament from Telangana region have raised the issue of police atrocities with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

In a letter to Sonia Gandhi, they have demanded that the police officials responsible for the violence at Osmania campus in Hyderabad and Kakatiya University campus in Warangal be suspended.

Telangana MPs Gutta Sukhinder Reddy, Madhu Yashki Goud and G Vivekanand Reddy condemned the police behavior and alleged that around 2,000 policemen had entered the campus and lathicharged the students and molested the girls.

"Is this the way to treat the girl students in a democracy," they asked.

A two-judge bench headed by acting Chief Justice T Minar Kumari, which has already ordered the paramilitary forces out of the campus, summoned Joint Commissioner of Hyderabad Police B S R Anjaneyalu on Thursday and unleashed a torrent of questions regarding the police's role in the campus violence.

When the joint commissioner admitted that the police was responsible for burning the vehicles of media persons, the bench enquired why he failed to act against the errant policemen.

The judges had many other questions for the joint commissioner, including the reasons for the police to enter the campus and unleash brutal force against the girl students. "With whose permission did you enter the campus and what was the reason for the lathi charge," they asked.

Judges also quizzed him about allegations that the police had molested the girls and manhandled them. "When you could arrest the student Joint Action Committee leaders, why can't you arrest those responsible for all these incidents," the judges asked the officer.

Anjaneyalu told the court that the matter was under investigation and the report will be submitted to the court soon. Dissatisfied with his reply, the judges asked him why the case should not be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation. 

The bench was hearing a bunch of writ petitions filed by the university students seeking action against the police.
On the plea of Advocate General Siaram Murthy, the bench adjourned the hearing of the case till March 1. 

The Osmania University has been in turmoil since last Sunday, when the students had taken out a procession in support of Telangana legislators, who had resigned from their posts. The police tried to disperse the procession. But after the students pelted stones, personnel from the police, the Central Reserve Police Force and the Rapid Action Force charged after the students. They also targeted the reporters and TV crews shooting the scenes of violence.
 
The use of force by the police left 12 students and five journalists injured. Seven policemen were also injured in the violence.
 
The trouble continued on the second day when the police again beat up the journalists present on the spot and burnt their vehicles.
 
The state government has already ordered a Criminal Investigation Department inquiry in to the incidents and 31 personnel of the CRPF have been confined to their headquarters till further orders.
 
Justice Narasimha Reddy, in his orders on Monday, had ordered all the paramilitary forces to vacate the campus. The judges strongly reprimanded the police over the action taken at the campus, asking whether they thought the university campus was Pakistan and the students were terrorists.
 
The state government has also come under fire from leaders of the ruling Congress for the police's high-handedness.
 
Former minister and senior Congress leader T Jeevan Reddy said that the police action in Osmania campus indicates a conspiracy to crush the Telangana movement. On the reports that the government was planning to move the Supreme Court against the high court's orders, he said that this was also part of a ploy to curb the Telangana movement.