Hyderabad: Activists campaigning against the Citizenship Amendment Act, NPR and NRC have alleged that their movements are being watched by Hyderabad City police in order to refrain them from participating in protests. Convener Telangana-AP Joint Action Committee against CAA & NPR, Mr Mohammed Mushtaq Malik alleged that police personnel were posted near his office and a shadow team is following him.
Mr Mushtaq Malik said that wherever protests erupt in the city, police teams reach his office while cops in mufti are inquiring about his whereabouts.
Though the JAC neither organised the protest by women at Barkas on Friday nor had they announced solidarity, a team of cops was posted at his office, he alleged.
When he was returning home late in the night, cops on a two-wheeler and a van followed him the entire way.
The JAC convenor said it may be a tactic of police to intimidate him, but ‘we are not likely to be cowed down by such highhanded tactics. He also said that whenever protests surface in the city, Moulana Naseeruddin, organiser of Wahdat-e-Islami is kept under an unofficial house arrest. Constables bear his house prevent him from attending even personal engagements.
The only saving grace is that he is allowed to visit the nearby Masjid his prayers, he said.
Family members of activists Ms Khalida Parveen and Ms Shiba Minai also complained that police frequently call them and ask about their participation in protest meetings.
In case their phones get switched-off due to low battery, within an hour cops reach their homes and ask about their whereabouts. Many students from the Old City complained that police officials were counselling their parents to keep them away them from protests, lest they spoil their career prospects.
A youth from Tolichowki said ‘they realised that convincing us is not possible.’
