RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: Clearly exasperated by the increasing number of attacks on homeless persons mistaken for gang members, Rajamahendravaram police on Friday rounded up over 300 beggars for what seemed to them the only solution at the moment: a thorough cleanup and a sartorial makeover.
Despite repeated assurances by the police that social media posts about criminal gangs on the prowl were nothing but rumours, the number of mob attacks has not come down. Most of those lynched in the past few weeks are homeless, mentally-disturbed or non-Telugus.
Late on Thursday, over 300 beggars from Kotipalli bus stand, Kambala Cheruvu, Subrahmanyam Maidan and other areas were picked up under the supervision of Rajamahendravaram (Urban) Superintendent of Police B Rajakumari and brought to Pushkar Ghat on the banks of the Godavari. Barbers engaged by the Police Department got down to business in no time and tonsured the group before giving them a clean shave. After they got cleaned in the river, they were provided a fresh set of clothes, food and a list of dos and don’ts. Of the 300, 103 from Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam and Telangana, were sent to their respective villages after their details were jotted down.
The rest were accommodated at Gautami Jeeva Karunya Orphanage and Swarnandhra Old Age Home and warned not to venture out for their own good.Rajakumari told TNIE no case of lynching had been reported from East Godavari in the recent past. “It is only a precautionary measure that we took up the initiative. We do not want the innocent to get hurt. It is the homeless who are targeted and victimised in such situations. Not every person who looks unkempt is a criminal. People should not take law into their own hands and remember that those they target are also humans,” she said.The SP warned of stern action against those resorting to violence and added that “such cleanup programmes” would be conducted periodically.“We will focus on street children next,” she said.