Hyderabad: The National Human Rights Commission on Friday took cognisance of the Nerella incident of torture of Dalits, based on a complaint as well as media reports.
The NHRC served notice on TS Director-General of Police Anurag Sharma and the government to conduct a fair and independent inquiry into the allegations that persons belonging to the SC and BC communities from Nerella in Sircilla Rajanna district were illegally detained and tortured. The report must be submitted in a month.
The incident has political ramifications as the area falls under minister K.T. Rama Rao’s constituency.
The NHRC said that it was alleged that the local police did not act on the many complaints of the villagers that lorries belonging to sand contractors were speeding dangerously, and had caused several deaths.
“They are notorious for overloading lorries with sand and driving them at high speed disregarding the safety and security of the villagers. Reportedly, on July 2, 2017, a lorry of a sand contractor ran over a person belonging to a Scheduled Tribe. After this, two lorries were set ablaze by the angry villagers, following which the police indiscriminately picked up at least eight persons and brutally tortured them,” the notice said.
