HYDERABAD: It was not a routine patrolling duty for constable Ravi attached to Chandrayangutta police station. He and his two colleagues were patrolling on Saturday night when he received a call from his superior directing them to rush to Phoolbagh in Hafeez Baba Nagar of Old City. As Ravi and his colleagues rushed to the scene, he perhaps never anticipated what lay in store. He reached the spot only to discover a nearly 1500-strong mob, all charged up. As he tried to make his way into the mob, he found one crossdresser lying dead and the other battling for life. As the cops tried to disperse the mob, Ravi says he was punched by the mob who prevented him from doing his duty.
“Our efforts to rescue another person resulted in us receiving blows and pushes. When the victim managed to come behind us, the public started abusing us for ‘saving the kidnappers’. They did not even allow us to shift the body to mortuary and victims to hospital,” recalls Ravi. While one victim died, others were saved by the intervention of a group of cops like Ravi, who did not think twice before risking their lives.
“The mob appeared as if they were ready to kill anyone who prevented them. But this is part of our duty and we had to do it. Else, another life could have been lost,’’ said Ravi.
He said that the public turned angry when we asked them to leave the area. Another policeman, Kanchanbagh Inspector N Shanker too faced the wrath of mob. “The mob was violent. They were not ready to leave the crossdressers. Though the situation appeared to be spiralling out of control, we held our ground, resorted to lathi-charge even as the mob was pelting stones at us,’’ he said.
Besides Ravi and Shanker, the mob also manhandled Chandrayangutta inspector Y Prakash Reddy who tried to convince the public not to resort to violence.