KCR government to drop UAPA: The Telangana government has decided to withdraw a case filed against human rights activist G Haragopal and five others under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Haragopal and others were among the 152 people who were named in the case involving some cadre of the banned CPI (Maoist) party.
The move by the KCR government comes after an uproar over the UAPA slammed against them in August last year. The government ordered the police department to let their names off the case.
What police said about investigation
The police said that they will file a petition in a local court in Mulugu, seeking the withdrawal of the six names who were among the 152 people including some Maoist cadres, sympathisers who were booked in the Tadvai police station under UAPA last year.
"In the investigation conducted so far, it has been revealed that adequate evidence against Haragopal, Padmaja Shah, V Raghunath, Gaddam Laxman, Gunti Ravinder, and Suresh Kumar have not been found regarding involvement in this case and a memo is being filed in court with a request for deletion of their names from the case," Mulugu Superintendent of Police Gaush Alam said.
The SP said that a petition in this regard is being filed in the court. "Against whom no evidence is found their names will be deleted. It is a matter of evidence," the senior police official said. He further said apart from the six (Haragopal and five others against whom evidence was not found), they have identified some more people against whom no evidence was found in the case.
Asked about the two persons who were listed as accused in the FIR and had died, including a former Bombay High Court judge, the official said that those names will also be deleted.
He said the case was registered against those whose names were mentioned in the Maoist literature seized then. However, he said that further probe into the case will continue. The official said that if the persons whose names have been included in the FIR are found to be innocent and there is no evidence against them, those names will accordingly be withdrawn from the case.
On some civil rights activists saying the UAPA case cannot be withdrawn easily with the filing of the discharge memo in the court and that a Government Order (GO) must be issued, the official said, "It does not require any GO. During investigation, if we get to know that these persons (accused) are not involved, we will be (approaching the court for) deleting names of those accused from the case."
What Haragopal said on the government's decision
Reacting to the development, Haragopal said that the charges should be withdrawn against all persons and cited 'defects' in the case. He urged the public representatives and political parties to vow to repeal the UAPA.
"All (against whom case has been filed) are in the same case. The case is being removed against one person means the government has realised that either the case is wrong or some defect has happened. It applies to all. So, we demand that the case as a whole should be lifted," he said.
He alleged that the BJP-led government at the Centre is misusing the stringent legislation. He said that the Telangana government should vow not to invoke the UAPA in the state and that it will withdraw all cases filed under the law.
Details about the case
The police said that on August 19, 2022, based on input that there was an illegal assembly of the banned CPI (Maoist) party members of Telangana in a forest area of Tadvai mandal, the Mulugu Police launched an operation.
During the combing operation, the police observed that there are armed men of the banned outfit and asked them to lay down their arms and surrender. However, they fled into the dense forest vacating their place, the police said. The police then recovered some CPI (Maoist) literature, some kit bags and other documentary evidence from the tent.
The police registered a case under the sections of UAPA and also under the Arms Act against 152 accused persons in the Tadvai police station.
"Among those booked included main Maoist leaders, their sympathisers, and other persons whose names were mentioned in the Maoist literature seized from the scene of crime," police said.
(With PTI inputs)
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