Telangana: Protests by families of police personnel spread to more parts

They charged that the police personnel were being made to work as bonded labour and demanded the government to protect the rights of the police personnel. They alleged that the police personnel were made to work long hours without leave.

Hyderabad: After protests in Nalgonda, Dichpally in Nizamabad, Mamannoor in Warangal and Sircilla, protests by family members of police personnel of different battalions were staged in Jogulamba Gadwal and Sircilla as well on Thursday.

Family members, including wives and children of personnel on Thursday staged a protest at the Erravalli crossroads in Jogulamba Gadwal on Thursday. They staged a rasta roko on the highway and demanded the government to addressing their long-pending issues. Holding banners and placards, the family members gathered at the crossroads and raised slogans against the Congress government. They charged that the police personnel were being made to work as bonded labour and demanded the government to protect the rights of the police personnel. They alleged that the police personnel were made to work long hours without leave.

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“My husband hardly spends any time at home. In the name of duty, he is being made to stay away from us,” said one of the wives at the protest.

Reacting to reports of police women personnel abusing and manhandling the agitating women and children, former IPS officer and BRS Leader RS Praveen Kumar said this was “absolutely wrong and reprehensible and unprecedented”. Urging the State government to reinstate the suspended TGSP constables immediately, he also wanted the government to cancel the new permission policy in TGSP. Suggesting for the formation of a committee on the ‘Ek Police’ system, Praveen Kumar also asked the State government to treat all wings of the police equally.

“Policemen are humans, not robots,” he said in a post on X.

Thursday’s protest came after wives and children of Telangana police constables took to the streets in the other districts earlier this week, demanding justice and equality at work for their husbands. They have been demanding implementation of the ‘Ek Police’ system, which promises equal opportunities for special police forces, which was promised by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy during the elections. They also pointed out that many of the constables of the Telangana State Special Police (TSSP), often assigned to difficult and demanding tasks, were denied career growth within the civil police system as well. The special police constables previously had a 15-day duty cycle with four days off, but under Revanth Reddy’s administration, they were forced to work 26 days with only four days of rest.

The government’s reaction was to suspend constables whose wives were part of the protest.

BRS leader and former Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy on Thursday posted on X, criticising the government’s approach to the issue, and pointed out that the Congress government was playing with the lives of the police personnel and their families. Even when the protest was spreading from one district to another over the last three days, the government was not making any effort to address the issue, she said, urging the government to change its approach and settle the demands the families of the police personnel were raising.