Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao directed Anjani Kumar, state Director General of Police (DGP) on Saturday, June 17, to withdraw the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) slapped against former University of Hyderabad professor G Haragopal, Osmania University professor Padmaja Shaw and 150 others. Besides Haragopal and Padmaja, the FIR has names of Gaddam Laxman, president, Telangana Civil Liberties Committee, activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira and Justice (Retd) H Suresh of the Indian Association of People’s Lawyers. However, Mulugu police said that the case will be dropped against six people and not all 152 individuals.
It is unclear whether the DGP office has also been asked to revoke the charges under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under the Arms Act in the FIR. At a meeting organised by the Forum Against Repression in Telangana on Saturday, June 17, at the Sundarayya Vignana Kendram in Hyderabad, Professor Balagopal, Professor Laxman Gaddam of the Civil Liberties Union, V Sandhya, state president of the Progressive Organisation for Women (POW) and others, named in the FIR, said they would put pressure on political parties in Telangana ahead of the upcoming Legislative Assembly elections in 2023 to work towards scrapping the UAPA.
The FIR, which was registered in August 2022, came to light on Thursday when the bail petition of Chandramouli, president, People's Democratic Movement (PDM), was being heard in another case. While opposing the bail plea, the police informed Ranga Reddy district court that Chandramouli was involved in several other cases. When the court sought the details, the police submitted the FIR, which had names of 152 people.. ’
Tadvai police alleged that they were trying to overthrow the government at gunpoint by associating themselves with Maoists. They also claimed that their names were found in a diary seized on August 19, 2022, from a place where Maoists were holding a meeting.
Professor Haragopal had earlier said that the police also included the name of Padmaja Shaw, former Professor of Journalism at Osmania University, who does not have an active public life and had concocted a story about finding names in the diary.
"Those booked in the case are all living with honesty. They are not corrupt or degenerated. They are a moral asset for the society," he said urging citizens to respond by demanding the government to withdraw the case.
(with IANS inputs)