HYDERABAD: Sunday’s incident of an FRO being attacked by Sirpur MLA Koneru Konappa’s brother Krishna and his followers at Kagaznagar in Komaram Bheem Asifabad district, in the presence of armed police personnel, raised questions on the force’s response to situations of public outrage.
A good number of force including local police and personnel from the Armed Reserve Unit were deputed to provide protection to the forest officials who were on a plantation driver under the Kaleshwaram project in degraded forest land.
But when the mob charged at the forest officials with sticks, the force remained almost mute spectators. Taking a serious note of the incident, DGP M Mahendar Reddy issued orders suspending DSP Kagaznagar Sambaiah and Circle Inspector (Rural) Venkatesham, on charges of inaction during the incident.
Videos which went viral after the incident showed that even after the woman FRO was beaten up and injured badly, police personnel were seen doing ‘very little’ to control the situation. This has not only left the police force embarrassed but also raised new questions on policing, which has women safety as their top priority.
The videos showed that even the armed men had also put in little effort to control the mob. “Our men cannot take decision to use force to control the mob. Even now there are allegations that police assaulted villagers, which is not true,” the officials said. Denying allegations that police in the Kagaznagar area cannot go beyond the MLA, a senior official said a detailed inquiry is underway.
“Based on the inquiry, action will be initiated on the responsible persons” he said.