Telangana stir: Andhra withdraws cases against students

HYDERABAD - Buckling under opposition pressure, the Andhra Pradesh government Monday said it was withdrawing around a third of criminal cases against students and others who took part in the movement for a separate Telangana state.

Making a statement in the state assembly, Home Minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy said 562 cases against 2,436 people were being withdrawn.

A total of 1,667 cases were registered against 8,047 people during the protests between December 2009 and September this year.

She said all cases were divided into two categories depending on their gravity. While petty cases like violation of prohibitory orders, road blockades and attempt to suicide were being withdrawn, cases like arson and attack on public and private property would be examined.

“Of the total cases, 122 against 411 people were closed at the police station level during the course of investigation, while 383 cases against 2,500 people were pending in court,” she said.

The statement came after the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) paralysed the state assembly Friday and Saturday over this demand. It forced an adjournment Monday as well.

The main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and TRS expressed dissatisfaction over the statement and demanded that all cases against the students in all the regions be withdrawn unconditionally.

Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy assured the house that every case was would be thoroughly examined.

“The government will take an appropriate decision at an appropriate time in respect of the cases which were not withdrawn,” he said.

Reddy appealed to students not to resort to violence during protests.

Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader Akbaruddin Owaisi demanded that the cases booked against 422 Muslim youths in the old city of Hyderabad in the aftermath of communal clashes this year be withdrawn as well.

The chief minister told him that the two issues could not be clubbed. He, however, said the government was ready review these cases.