Unlawful Arrests Yet Again

The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) strongly condemns the illegal, unprovoked and malicious arrests of a seven-member team of lawyers, journalists and human rights activists belonging to the Telangana Democratic Forum and other organisations by the Telangana police on 25 December 2016 at Dummagudam village of Bhadrachalam district of Telangana. The fact-finding team was planning to visit Chhattisgarh to enquire into complaints of human rights violations suffered by Adivasi villagers of Chhattisgarh at the hands of security forces. The members of the team are:

(i) Balla Ravindranath (advocate, High Court, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), (ii) Chikkudu Prabhaker (advocate), (iii) Durga Prasad (journalist, Hyderabad), (iv) Duddu Prabhaker (president, Andhra Pradesh Kula Nirmulana Poratta Samiti), (v) Rajendra Prasad (Telangana Vidhyarthi Vedika), (vi) Nazeer (Telangana Vidhyarthi Vedika), and (vii) Ramananda Lakshmay.