HYDERABAD: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLCs Tata Madhusudhan, alias Madhu, and N Naveen Kumar Reddy were arrested by Saifabad police on Tuesday for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Telangana Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar at the Assembly on Monday.
Police took Madhu into custody from the MLA quarters, while Naveen Kumar Reddy was picked up from his residence in Kokapet on Tuesday morning.
Based on a complaint lodged by Pollepalli Venkatesham, an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Assembly Speaker, Saifabad police registered a case against Tata Madhu and Naveen Kumar Reddy under Sections 352 read with 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Sections 3(1)(r), 3(2)(va) and 3(2)(vii) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
According to the complaint, the complainant is the OSD attached to the office of the Telangana Legislative Assembly Speaker and is duty-bound to report criminal acts, constitutional violations and targeted attacks against the Speaker and the person occupying the Chair.
The complaint said Gaddam Prasad Kumar, the sitting Speaker of the Telangana Legislative Assembly, belongs to the Scheduled Caste community. It alleged that Tata Madhu and N Naveen Kumar Reddy, who belong to the BRS and are not members of either the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe communities, made derogatory remarks against him.
On Monday, Tata Madhu and N Naveen Kumar Reddy, along with other political associates, assembled within the security area of the Assembly. In the presence of the public and the media, they allegedly launched a “malicious, unprovoked and premeditated verbal tirade” targeting Gaddam Prasad Kumar, the complaint said.
According to the complaint, Tata Madhu and N Naveen Kumar Reddy, knowing that the Speaker belongs to a Scheduled Caste community, allegedly used derogatory, abusive, foul and defamatory language against him.
The complaint alleged that the two leaders publicly questioned the Speaker's integrity, authority and constitutional conduct, and deliberately used terms intended to humiliate, demean and degrade him on account of his social background and constitutional role.
It further alleged that the remarks were made in an open area within the Assembly premises, in the presence of dozens of journalists, electronic media camera crews, Assembly staff and security personnel, thereby taking place in a “place within public view” as contemplated under the law.
Police are questioning the two leaders in connection with the alleged incident. They are likely to be produced before the Nampally court for judicial custody.
