HCU violence: Police chief gets State Human Rights Commission notice

Hyderabad: The State Human Rights Commission on Monday served a notice to Cyberabad police commissioner C.V. Anand on a complaint by Prof. P.L. Visweswara Rao of the Aam Aadmi Party complaining of human rights violations in University of Hyderabad.

The SHRC ordered the commissioner to submit a report on the violations, to be inquired into by an officer not below the rank of deputy commissioner of police, by March 31.

The SHRC also ordered that University of Hyderabad be directed to ensure that there were no further violations of human rights in the university. The complaint by Prof. Rao, who was a teaching faculty in UoH earlier, raised around 20 alleged violations of human rights.

These included “police brutality on campus, provocation by vice chancellor Prof. Appa Rao Podile when he resumed work after two months, creating a terror like situation in the campus, suppressing freedom of speech, restricting movement of students inside campus and questioning by police” and other issues.

Prof. Rao said that he would move the NHRC regarding police action on UoH campus and “violation” of human rights if the issue was not resolved in the state level.

On March 25 the National Human Rights Commission had issued a suo motu notice to the secretary, Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, chief secretary, government of Telangana and police commissioner, Hyderabad, seeking a report within one week on human rights violations in UoH regarding the “emergency like situation” in the university and disconnection of water, electricity, food, and Internet services and keeping ATMs out of order.