After YS Sharmila, YS Vijayamma too slaps woman constable in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Within hours of the arrest of her daughter and YSRTP chief YS Sharmila for manhandling the police personnel, YS Vijayamma too ended up slapping a policewoman in Hyderabad on Monday. The incidents happened during a day of tension spilling out of police restrictions on the movements of both YS Sharmila and later YS Vijayamma.

Earlier in the day, YS Sharmila was arrested and a case was registered against her after she manhandled a Sub-Inspector and slapped a woman police constable near her Lotus Pond residence in Jubilee Hills. She was shifted to the Jubilee Hills police station. Similar curbs were imposed on YS Vijayamma when she came down to the Banjara Hills Police Station hoping to meet her daughter and express her solidarity with her.

When the women police constables tried to prevent her, Vijayamma retaliated by resisting their moves. In the process, she was also caught on camera slapping a woman constable.

Responding to the police action, YS Sharmila said that she had thought of going to the SIT office on Monday to provide details to the investigation agency on the TSPSC question paper leakage. She questioned how the police could stop her from venturing out of her house on personal work. She said that she had neither called for any protests nor was she a criminal to be restricted from doing her work and fumed at the police, saying that they had created a nuisance.

The YSRTP president denied manhandling the police personnel and clarified that she had done nothing wrong. She had only reacted in self-defence when the police team tried to prevent her movement. She also alleged that the heavy posse of police had ill-treated her and questioned how policemen could obstruct her.

Earlier, tension prevailed at Lotus Pond in Hyderabad when YS Sharmila lost her cool and manhandled the woman cop and a sub-inspector after they stopped her in her stride. She also staged a sit-in protest for a while against the police action. Following a heated argument, the police arrested YS Sharmila and shifted her to Jubilee Hills police station.

Tension then shifted to Banjara Hills police station amid reports that YS Sharmila would be moved there. The case against her was registered at the Banjara Hills Police Station. YS Sharmila’s mother, YS Vijayamma, descending at the Banjara Hills police station along with followers only flared up the situation. The police did not allow YS Vijayamma inside the police station, resulting in an altercation. YS Vijayamma was later pacified by the police and moved away from the police station.

On the other hand, the police also arrested scores of YSRTP activists when they came to meet their president. They were taken into preventive detention for creating a ruckus at the Jubilee Hills police station.

Meanwhile, the police had taken the issue of YS Sharmila’s manhandling of their colleagues seriously and registered a case against the YSRTP president under sections 330 and 353 of the IPC.

YS Vijayamma accuses government of suppressing voices

YS Vijayamma demanded the Telangana government to explain the reasons why her daughter and YSRTP president YS Sharmila was arrested and why she was being hounded by the police at every step. Addressing the media on the sequence of incidents that happened at Lotus Pond in Jubilee Hills and later at the police station, YS Sharmila said that the Telangana government was creating hurdles for her daughter as it could not digest the fact that Sharmila was fighting for youth and against unemployment.

YS Vijayamma took potshots at the Telangana government alleging that it had failed to perform its duties transparently and hence causing difficulties to those exposing its failures. She said that police were always being deployed at their residence to stop her daughter from protests and questioned if her daughter had no freedom.

Responding to the manhandling charges, YS Vijayamma supported her act saying that everybody would get carried away when there was a scuffle-like situation. She clarified that she had not hit anyone and instead just raised her hand to keep the police away from her.

YS Vijayamma stated that Sharmila was arrested while the latter was going to the SIT office to provide details and expressed anger against the Telangana government for suppressing the voices of those questioning its failures. She demanded the police to allow her to meet YS Sharmila and release her from the police station.