Deccan Chronicle Dt.22-03-1997

Red Alert, flag march in Agency villages
40 TRIBALS REMANDED FOR DEFYING PROHIBITORY ORDERS

Eluru, March 21 : A 'Red Alert' was issued in Agency villages and aimed policemen inarched in Jeelugumilli, Tadiramannagudem, Barinkalapadu, Reddi Ganapavaram and several sensitive villages on Thursday night.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 promulgated in Jeelugumilli and Buttayagudem mandals was contin­ued prohibiting gatherings of more than four persons and carrying of deadly weapons.

The police took into custody 40 tribals for violation of Section 144, trespassing into the lands of non-tribal farmers, destroying tobacco, chilli and sugarcane crops and carrying away cashew soapnuts etc.

On receipt of complaints, the Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Jangareddigudem, Mr.J.Brahmareddi, along with a Special Force raided the tribal localities at Vankavarigudem, Barrinkalapadu, Tatiramannagudem of Jeelugumilli rnandal and took into custody 60 tribals and 40 among them were remanded. Some of the arrested were identified as belonging to 'Sakti' group provoking the tribals to agitate.

Reacting to the incident, the tribals planned to attack the Jeelugumilli Police Station with bow and arrows and spears. On a tip off, the Additional Superintendent of Police, Mr K. Lakshmi Reddy, proceeded to Jeelugumilli along with additional armed forces and the Deputy Superintendent of Police (Armed Reserve) on the mid-night of Thursday.

The DSPs of Eluru and Narsapur, Inspectors of Police and 70 Sub-Inspectors were kept in red alert, followed by a flag march in sensitive villages.

Sensing trouble, eight more leaders behind the agita­tion were also arrested on Friday morning. All the 40 tribals arrested were sent to remand and cases were booked under Section 143, 188 199 for illegally carry­ing dangerous weapons, unlawful gathering, trespass­ing and trouble-creating. Section 144 was promulgated in the troubled villages till Sunday.

The timely action taken by the Additional Superintendent of Police, Mr K Lakshmi Reddy, in mobilising additional forces kept the trouble provokers behind the tribals at bay. The Additional Superintendent speaking to Chronicle said the area was under control and anybody interfering in local matters and encour­aging unlawful activity will be dealt with severely.

The Incharge Collector, Mr M Subrahmanyam, pro­ceeded to Jeelugumilli area on Friday morning. As per the information received here, he was holding talks with elders of the two factions. However, the tribals were said to be pressing for the release of those arrest­ed. The non-tribals recently came to an understanding with Rythanga Samakhya and sought their support in case of an exigency.

those inciting Girijans

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

JANGAREDD1GUDEM (West Godavari), March 22: Cases were registered even aga­inst those who were extending support to unlawful activities in the agency area of West Goda­vari district, additional super­intendent of police K Lakshmi Reddy has said.

The ASP told newsmen here yesterday after the arrest of Gir­ijans in the agency area that the department had taken a lenient view of things till now because it thought that the Girijans were innocent and that they did not do anything unless they were inciting by anyone.

All the people mattered equ­ally to the law and though it was being said that it was a custom among the Girijans to wander about with arms they were taken into custody because they had flouted the prohibitory orders imposed under section 144, he said.

PROHIBITORY ORDERS:

To a question, Lakshmi Reddy said that cases were found to be registered in the past against some of the Girijans who were attested. Prohibitory orders would be imposed even in Polavaram and Jangareddigu-dem depending on the needs as section 144 was anyway imposed in the mandals of Buttayigudem and Jeelugumilli, he said in reply to another question.

The ASP brushed aside the rumor that the police arrested the Girijans because they had raided the plantations of those who were influential. The action was taken according to the regulations of the district administration and some more steps of the kind would be taken after March 30, he said.

The armed reserve forces and the civil police in the district were called in to assist the three battalions of the APSP here as a precautionary measure but they were being sent back as the DSP here, J Brahma Reddy, said that there was no need for them, he said.

The police official had a word of praise for Brahma Reddy who, he said, had acted wise in taking the Girijans into custody. Before he spoke at the news conference here, the ASP had visited many Girijan villages. Girijans in the villages of Jeelugumilli mandal who have been living in fight at the imposition of section 144 for the past one month were the more affected by the flag march conducted by the police teams.

The flagmarch was conducted at Chandramma colony, Barrimkalapadu, Panduwarigudem, Vankawarigudem, Datlawarigudem, Cheemalawarigudem and other villages under the supervi­sion of DSP Brahma Reddy.

Meanwhile, police forces from all corners of the district were moved to the town by Friday morning as it was apprehended that the Girijans would mob the police station over the arrest of some of them on Thursday.

Narasapuram DSP Manohar Rao, Eluru DSP Chakradhara Rao and the circle inspectors of Bhimavaram. Bhimadolu. Pala-cole, Polavaram and Chintala-pudi besides 10 sub-inspectors had come here for band bust.

39 tribals remanded till April 1

The Indian Express, March 23, 1997.

Express Mews Service

Kovvuru (West Godavari dist), March 21: The 60 tribal men and women who were arrested yesterday on charges of either damaging or illegally reaping the crops of non-tribal in Jeelugumilli mandal were put to starvation for more than 18 hours since last night.

The detained tribals were finally traced at Lakkavaram in Jeelugumilli mandal this afternoon. Thirty-nine of them were shifted to Kovvuru and produced before the sub-divisional magistrate K. Sarada Devi. They were remanded to judicial custody till April 1. The arrested were being sent to Rajahmundry Central Jail.

Eight of the tribals belonging to Barrinkalapadu were arrested on a charge of threatening a non-tribal Garapati Acharyulu with dire consequences if he did not leave the village with his family.

Fourteen persons belonging to Jeelugumilli were arrested for damaging the paddy crop of Kottu Venkateswara Rao. Some 17 tribals of Thatiramannagudem were arrested for allegedly damaging the cashew plantations belonging to Pavuluri Krishna Chowdary.

The arrested were among the 60 tribals, who were nabbed by the police yesterday in Jeelugumilli mandal following complaints of theft of crops.

Earlier, all the 60 tribals, most of them women, were kept in custody at the Lakkavaram police station.

When contacted at Lakkavaram, one of the women said, We have been kept under custody since last night. They (police) did not provide us anything to eat since this morning.

Asked why they were arrested. Koram Pethuru put it, "We did not do anything against law. Only when our MRO made it clear that some lands certainly belonging to us as per the 'section 1 of 70 Act', we asked the non-tribals to leave them for us. And they might have lodged a complaint with the police who took us into custody after raiding our hamlets for the last two days. We are innocents. We did not damage the crops belonging to non-tribals. We were only insisting that our lands should be returned."

Meanwhile, situation continued to be tense in Jeelugumilli mandal for the second day today.

APSP policemen numbering 70 of the Sixth and Eighth Battalions were deployed in the mandal. This apart, an Armed Reserve lady sub-inspector and five lady constables were requisitioned to carry out the arrests of tribal women.