Hyderabad: An ASHA worker, identified as J. Santoshini, slapped Sultan Bazaar station house officer Srinivasa Chary, after she got injured while being taken into preventive custody during a protest at Koti here on Monday.
A large number of ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers assembled in front of the office of directorate of medical education in Koti, demanding that the government increase their salary up to Rs 18,000 as promised by the Congress during the Assembly elections last year.
Police deployed at the spot attempted to disband the protest. Policemen dragged the women ASHA workers, sparking another protest; female personnel stood by and watched, it was alleged. A video purporting to show this went viral on social media.
When the ASHA workers were being lifted into a mini-lorry to be taken away from the spot, the leg of J. Santoshini, 53, got stuck at the tail door. She shouted out in pain the police continued to pushed her inside.
She then slapped SHO Chary, who moved away from the spot.
Women constables, who were at the spot, allegedly started hitting Santoshini. Another constable filmed the scene and a video of the incident was uploaded on social media and was widely shared.
The police then took Santoshini to the Osmania General Hospital for treatment of her leg injury. When contacted SHO Chary refused to comment on the incident.
Reacting to the incident, BRS former minister T. Harish Rao said the party condemned the attack on “ASHA mothers who are doing special service at the field level… now, if ASHA sisters come on to the road to protest, it is evil on the part of the government and the police to beat them.”
Former BJP MP Boora Narsaiah Goud said that the party strongly condemned the lathicharge on ASHA workers, who were the backbone of the healthcare system. He said they were protesting for their rightful demands but the Congress government had mercilessly lathicharged the impoverished women workers.
