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The hounding of human rights activists in the two Telugu States has escalated in the past few weeks.
VS Krishna of Human Rights Forum (HRF) has been slapped with two cases under various sections of UAPA, Andhra Pradesh Public Security Act (APPSA), Arms Act and IPC.
VS Krishna of Human Rights Forum (HRF) has been slapped with two cases under various sections of UAPA, Andhra Pradesh Public Security Act (APPSA), Arms Act and IPC.
The first case was filed by Munchingput PS in Vishakhapatnam district. A total of 64 people were booked in the first case under Sec. 120 (b), 121, 121 (a), 143, 144, 124 (a) r/w with 149 of IPC; Sec. 10, 13, 18 of UAPA; Sec. 25 of Arms Act.
The FIR accuses VS Krishna of coercing the Adivasi women from Vakapalli to file a rape case against anti-Naxal force personnel of Andhra Pradesh. The case in the discussion here is the 2007 Vakapalli rape case wherein 11 Kondh Adivasi women accused 13 greyhounds of rape.
It took 12 long years for the Adivasi women of Vakapalli and the HRF activists working with them to get the courts to start the trial. Now that the trial has finally begun, it looks like attempts are being made to either stall it further or shut it completely.
This is an article I wrote three years ago about the Vakapalli case. https://scroll.in/article/848097/adivasi-women-in-andhra-who-accused-elite-anti-naxal-force-of-rape-10-years-ago-struggle-for-justice
The second case was filed by Piduguralla Town PS in Guntur district on 24.11.2020. A total of 27 people were booked in this case under Sec. 120 (b), 121, 121 (a), 122, 124 (a), 143, 144, 149 of IPC; Sec. 16, 17, 18, 18 (a), 18 (b), 20, 21, 38, 39, 40 of UAPA.
Activists of Civil Liberties Committee (CLC), Revolutionary Writers Association (RWA), Patriotic Democratic Movement (PDM), Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP), Kula Nirmoolana Porata Samiti (KNPS) were also booked in both the cases under the same sections.
Earlier this month, Telangana police booked HRF members A Bhujangarao (Telangana state vice-president), A Suguna (Adilabad district president) and K Venkatesh (Kumram Bheem Asifabad district president) under various sections of UAPA, Telangana State Public Security Act and IPC.
The police listed the three Adilabad HRF members as "absconding." However, all three of them are residing in their homes in their respective villages. Two of them are teachers and continue to attend to their work.
