Police high-handedness, political vendetta flagged in NHRC report on Lagcherla violence
Hyderabad: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which conducted on-spot enquiry into the Lagcherla violence, said police used excessive authority to torture some of the villagers for their alleged involvement in the attack on Vikarabad district collector and revenue officials.
“On the basis of available statements, documents and reports, highhandedness was detected on the part of police and local authorities,” the report said.
The Commission has submitted its report after completing the investigation into the November 11, 2024 incident. On that day, the villagers and farmers strongly protested the land acquisition for a proposed “Pharma Village” without following proper procedures in Lagcherla.
During a public hearing, angry locals went on a rampage and attacked Vikarabad Collector Prateek Jain and Kodangal Urban Development Authority (KUDA) Special Officer and Deputy Collector K Venkat Reddy. Some of them chased the officials and three cars of the officials were also damaged.
In its report, NHRC stated that the allegations of violation of human rights of the villagers were found to be true. It said the police action was marred with political vendetta as it targetted opposition BRS and BJP workers while no action was found to be taken against the Congress supporters.
“The villagers who were arrested at night were beaten up at the Parigi PS and were threatened not to speak about the torture in front of the magistrate. Though the arrested villagers were detained in the police station, this was not mentioned in the General Diary,” the report said.
While the land acquisition order was issued by the government agencies as per law, the way police handled the situation was not as per law.
“The CCTV cameras of the lockup and Circle Inspector(CI) office were found not to be functional, where the villagers were detained in the night after their arrest. The GD entries were also not updated, which indicates the reckless attitude of police personnel,” it said.
Highlighting the “angle of political vendetta”, the report said several individuals who were neither present at the protest site nor known to be supporters of a non-ruling political party were arrested by the police.
“Cases were registered against minors, students, government officials, some of them were not even present in the village during the incident of clash between district authorities and villagers on November 11, 2024,” the report added.
