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YSRTP chief Y S Sharmila’s car towed away, with her in it, during stir in Hyderabad
The Hyderabad police on Tuesday arrested YSR Telangana party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s sister Y S Sharmila, when she tried to lay siege to Pragati Bhavan the official residence of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, to protest against the attack on her convoy and caravan by the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) workers in Warangal on Monday
The Hyderabad police on Tuesday arrested YSR Telangana party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s sister Y S Sharmila, when she tried to lay siege to Pragati Bhavan the official residence of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, to protest against the attack on her convoy and caravan by the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) workers in Warangal on Monday.
Accompanied by her followers, Sharmila on Tuesday left for Pragati Bhavan driving her damaged car, followed by a partially-burnt caravan, when the police stopped her on the Raj Bhavan Road. The police asked her and her followers to go back, but she refused to get down from the vehicle.
As the YSRTP tried to put up a resistance and raised slogans against the government, the police took them into custody. Yet, Sharmila refused to budge and the police brought a crane and towed her car away even as she was still inside the car. She was shifted to Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar police station about two kilometres away.
Later in the afternoon, a case was filed against Sharmila under sections 143(unlawful assembly), 341(wrongful restraint), 290(public nuisance), 506(criminal intimidation), 333(voluntarily causing injuries to a public servant on duty), 509(uttering words insulting the modesty of a woman), 348(wrongful confinement), 353(assaulting a public servant on duty), and 149(disturbing public tranquility).
Sharmila said she wanted to seek an explanation from the chief minister whether it was appropriate for his administration to attack whoever questioned his governance and exposed his failures. “How can the police stop my padayatra, for which I have taken prior permission, just because I criticise the government policies?” she asked.
Late in the evening, the metropolitan magistrate court at Nampally in Hyderabad granted bail to Sharmila on personal surety.
The magistrate court, which heard arguments from both the counsels of Sharmila and the prosecution, rejected the arguments of the police that she might create law and orders problem, if she was let out on bail, instead of being remanded to judicial custody.
Sharmila’s lawyers argued that she was going to Pragati Bhavan only to register a peaceful protest. There was absolutely no relation to the incident and the sections of the Indian Penal Code under which cases were filed against her.
Meanwhile, the police also detained Sharmila’s mother Y S Vijayamma and kept her under house arrest, when she made an attempt to go to the police station to call on her daughter.
On Monday, high drama ensued when the YSRTP president was arrested at Lingagiri village under Warangal district’s Chennaraopeta block, following clashes between her party workers and the TRS workers.
The TRS workers attacked her convoy, damaged several vehicles, besides setting fire to her caravan in protest against her alleged defamatory comments against local TRS lawmaker P Sudershan Reddy. The YSRTP workers, who doused the fire, retaliated, leading to a clash. The police stopped her padayatra, detained her and shifted her to Hyderabad.
On Tuesday, Sharmila moved the high court challenging the denial of permission for her to continue the padayatra on the pretext of law and order. The high court gave her permission to go ahead with her foot march, but with a condition that she shall not make any inflammatory speeches and provocative comments against the government.
