Accusing the police of diluting his complaint against Assam Chief Minister Hemanth Biswa Sarma for his derogatory remarks against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Telangana Congress chief A. Revanth Reddy lodged a fresh complaint with sections relevant to outraging the modesty of women and creating enmity between different groups citing Supreme Court judgments.
Mr. Reddy said that the Telangana police diluted the complaint invoking irrelevant sections allegedly on the directions of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and lodged a fresh complaint with the Jubilee Hills police. He said though Sections 504 and 505 (2) of the IPC should have been invoked by the police, their intention was to dilute the FIR. Moreover, the offence was punishable under Sections 153A, 294 and 509 but they were not invoked.
SC judgments
Mr. Reddy said that the intent of the accused was to insult, and outrage the modesty of women calling into question the paternity of Rahul Gandhi who hails from a reputed family. He also quoted several judgments of Supreme Court in his complaint seeking the police to charge the accused under the punishable sections if they were serious.
Earlier, the Congress chief called for protests in front of the Police Commissionerates and offices of the Superintendents of Police in the districts against the failure on part of the police to issue the First Information Report (FIRs) on the complaints lodged in all police stations by Congress workers.
Police barricaded all the routes leading to Mr. Reddy's residence at Jubilee Hills and posted hundreds of policemen to prevent him from getting out of the house. He was supposed to lead the protest at the Hyderabad Police Commissionerate office.
Congress leaders were placed under house arrest across the State since morning and those who tried to come out were taken into custody and moved to different police stations. Bhongir MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy; MLC T. Jeevan Reddy; TPCC working president Geeta Reddy; and former Minister Shabbir Ali were not allowed to come out. TPCC working president Anjan Kumar Yadav, however, surprised the police by appearing in front of the Commissionerate along with his supporters. He was arrested amidst slogan raising Congress activists. NSUI president Venkat Balmoor was also picked up by the police.
