Hyderabad, February 16: In a tough stance against Telangana activists ahead of the non-cooperation movement by them from February 17, the state police have made it clear that criminal cases will be booked against those violating the law during the agitation and that the punishment would be stringent for repeated offenders.
“We have instructed the police in the Telangana districts to book criminal cases against all those violating the law,” DGP K Aravinda Rao told TOI on Tuesday. Travelling in RTC buses and trains without ticket and barging into a cinema hall without ticket would count as a criminal offence, while not allowing others to work would be construed as a criminal intimidation and would attract relevant sections of the law, he added.
The Telangana JAC and TRS, which are spearheading the non-cooperation movement, have called on the people of the region not to buy tickets while travelling in public transport buses and trains, not to buy cinema tickets and not to pay their property tax, electricity and water bills during the agitation which they said would last until the UPA government at the Centre introduced a bill on the creation of the separate state.
Although emergency services have been kept out of the agitation, work in various municipalities are likely to be affected.
According to police sources, the tough stance adopted by the state police is meant to be more of a deterrent to the people in joining the movement en masse.
The police has issued a sterner warning to repeated offenders. “The state is in the process of withdrawing the cases against the Telangana activists, which were booked over the last one year of their agitation. But in case these protesters indulge in arson and violence again during the non-cooperation movement, the previous cases will not be withdrawn,” DGP Aravinda Rao said.
–Agencies