KTR slams midnight arrests of journalists in Telangana

BRS working president KT Rama Rao condemned the midnight arrests of three journalists in Telangana, likening the situation to the Emergency era. He questioned Rahul Gandhi and accused the Congress government of suppressing media freedom and misusing police power.

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao strongly condemned the midnight arrests of three journalists in Telangana and demanded their immediate release. The Congress rule in Telangana reminded one of the Emergency days, he said, asking Congress Lok Sabha leader Rahul Gandhi whether he was aware of the suppression of the media.

In a series of posts on X, Rama Rao criticised the Telangana police for treating journalists like criminals, despite the case involving only bailable sections. “You could have served notices and called them for investigation. Going into journalists’ homes in the dead of the night is definitely a stretch,” he said, calling the arrests an abuse of power.

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He questioned why the police chose midnight arrests, terrorising the journalists and their families. He urged the DGP to follow due process and not be drawn into the dirty politics of the Congress party and its poor leadership.

The BRS working president also raised doubts over the source of the alleged leak that triggered the case, asking whether any pro-government TV channel would telecast a story “without active support from Mr 30%,” a veiled reference to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.

In a direct message to Rahul Gandhi, Rama Rao said he hoped that the Congress national leadership was aware of what was happening under its watch. “I hope you are taking note of how the Telangana branch of your ‘Mohabbat ki Dukan’ is trampling upon constitutional rights,” he said.

Terming the police action an “abduction” of journalists, he pointed out that police broke open the doors of a journalist’s home instead of issuing a BNSS Section 35 notice, which is the legally mandated process in such situations, as the case involves only bailable sections. He said the repression of the media and digital media had become the hallmark of Revanth Reddy’s administration in the State.