In a shocking incident, four oustees of Gudatipally village in Akkannapet mandal under Gouravelli reservoir were brought to Husnabad Court in Siddipet district from Karimnagar jail by the police with handcuffs and chains. This attracted large-scale criticism from the public as well as from the families of oustees, who alleged that they were being treated as thieves/ anti-social elements.
“Many of us have sacrificed our lands for the construction of Gouravelli reservoir. Some of us are fighting for right compensation. We are being treated as thieves or anti-social elements as we fought for our rights,” alleged some of the oustees at Husnabad on Thursday.
On the night of May 12, the police raided the village and arrested some persons. Protesting over this and demanding that the authorities meet their demands like double bedroom houses to those who crossed 18 years and pay compensation to those missing in the list, oustees of Gudatipally held a dharna in front of the camp office of Husnabad MLA V. Satish Kumar on the next day. This had led to clash between TRS activists and oustees. Some police were also injured in the incident of clashes.
Cases were registered against seven persons and four of them — Baddam Shankar Reddy, A. Tirupathi Reddy, Ragi Srinivas and Sakur Naik — were arrested by the police and shifted to Karimnagar jail for remand. As 14 days’ remand was completed they were again brought back to the court at Husnabad on Thursday handcuffing with chains.
The video of oustees being taken with handcuffs has become viral in social media.