Last month, the Telangana High Court directed the Cyberabad Police Commissioner to conduct a detailed inquiry into the alleged illegal detention of two Congress workers during a raid on the Congress ‘war room’.
On December 13, 2022, the police raided the ‘war room’ in Hyderabad and detained Ishan Sharma and Sasank Tatineni. The police also seized some computers and hard disks.
The ‘war room’ run by the party’s poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu was raided for allegedly posting defamatory comments about Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on social media platforms.
The police had later issued notices under 41A CrPC in connection with the case booked by the cybercrime wing against them under Indian Penal Code sections 505-B and 469 for making defamatory videos by morphing photos.
The Congress party denied the allegations. It alleged that the KCR government targeted the ‘war room’ set up to strategise and promote the party in preparation for the Assembly elections.
The Congress leaders say the case highlights how the KCR government is acting in an autocratic manner to target its critics.
Congress MP Mallu Ravi had filed a habeas corpus petition seeking compensation of Rs 20 lakh each for the Congress workers illegally detained by the cybercrime team.
The Congress party alleged that the raid was conducted on the orders of the Chief Minister to suppress dissent and to punish them for questioning his governance.
The party had also raised the issue in the Lok Sabha. Calling KCR a “South Indian Hitler”, Congress MP and then AICC in-charge of Telangana, Manickam Tagore, had moved an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha.
Tagore had also tweeted a post, taking a dig at KCR’s daughter K. Kavitha’s alleged role in the Delhi excise policy case, and challenged the cops to arrest him. He said the party’s “war room” was raided after his particular post.
Police officials had clarified that they acted on a complaint regarding a Facebook page called “Telangana Galam” which allegedly contained provocative and manipulated videos involving political figures, including the chief minister and other politicians.
In June, the police arrested three BJP leaders and issued a notice to the party’s then state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar for allegedly insulting the Chief Minister by organizing a skit.
BJP leaders Jitta Balakrishna Reddy, Rani Rudramma and Daruvu Yellanna were arrested by the police.
A case was registered against them at the Hayathnagar police station for indulging in hate speech and inciting hatred and causing provocation for violence through an event organized by the cultural team of the BJP on Telangana Formation Day (June 2).
On a complaint by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) social media convenor Y. Satish Reddy, the police booked Balakrishna Reddy, state BJP chief Bandi Sanjay and others under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 114 (abettor present when offence is committed), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 505(2) (statements causing public mischief, promoting enmity) read with 109.
The complainant had alleged that the organizers misused the platform to defame the government schemes with false accusations against the Chief Minister and the government with the intention to mislead the people and provoke hatred and unrest.
The police defended its action saying the organizers made derogatory comments and personal attacks depicting the chief minister as a boozer, cheater etc. The accused thus tried to lower the image of a person elected by democratic means and holding a constitutional post.The opposition parties have often flayed the government for not allowing them to hold peaceful and democratic protests. The government was accused of resorting to house arrests and detentions whenever the opposition planned a protest.
Some persons claiming to be ‘journalists’ and YouTube content creators were detained for allegedly criticising KCR and his government during discussions on their platforms.
They alleged that they were picked up without any notice and kept in illegal detention. Some of them alleged that the police also took their phones and formatted them.
Musham Srinivas, a reporter of Tolivelugu, a Telugu digital news channel, alleged that he was picked up by policemen in plainclothes from his room in Pet Basheerabad and was detained for 12 hours. The policemen took his phone and formatted it. The incident occurred in 2021. He claimed that he was harassed for the coverage of the Huzurabad bypoll, which was won by the BJP.
Dasari Srinivas, who runs the YouTube channel Kaloji TV, was also booked by the police for making critical comments about KCR and his daughter. He was booked under IPC sections 505 (1) (b) (with intent to cause alarm or fear to the public), 505 (2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) and 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc).
The police defended their action in these cases also on the ground that the persons claiming to be journalists had no permission from the authorities to air the news or run the channels.
Leaders of the ruling party say while their government welcomes healthy criticism and supports a free media, action will be taken as per law against individuals resorting to personal attacks or posting defamatory posts on social media on the pretext of freedom of expression.