Days after violence broke out at Sarsala village in Telangana, where a forest officer, Anitha, was attacked by a stick-wielding mob and had to be rushed to a hospital for treatment, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has taken note of the incident.
"The Commission is seriously concerned about the brutal crime targeted against officials and women in particular performing their duty," the NCW said in a notice addressed to Telangana Director of General Police (DGP) Mahender Reddy.
The notice was signed by the NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma.
"Considering the gravity of the matter, I request you to ensure swift and speedy investigation in the matter and send a detailed action taken report to the Commission at an early date by e-mail/fax," the letter added.
The violence had broken out during an afforestation programme taken up by the state government. TRS leader Koneru Krishna, the brother of Sirpur MLA Koneru Konappa, was arrested for leading the mob.
In a press note, the Forest Divisional Officer in Kagaznagar alleged that the MLA’s brother and some locals carried out the attack as they had a ‘mala fide intention’ to occupy the Reserve Forest land. However, locals claimed that they had been cultivating the land for decades.
On Monday, a similar incident took place as two forest officials were attacked, allegedly after they stopped some locals from ploughing forest land with a tractor in the limits of Gundalapadu village in Bhadradri Kothagudem district.
In another incident on Monday, TRS MLA from Kothagudem, Vanama Venkateshwara Rao and his son Raghava, were booked for allegedly obstructing forest officials from doing their duty at Lothuvagu village in Kothagudem district. Forest Range Officer MRP Rao complained to the local police that the MLA, his son, and three others had abused the forest staff at Lothuvagu.
Meanwhile, under heavy police security on Monday, officials continued the afforestation programme and planted 22,000 saplings in the contentious site of forest land, spread over 20 hectares, at Sarasala village.