Hyderabad, January 12: Police are conducting informal surveys on the number of students of Osmania University residing at Manikeshwar Nagar, a residential locality in the vicinity of the campus where several non-boarders take shelter by renting houses, and pressuring the house-owners to ask the students to vacate their premises immediately.
This incident came to light when a fact-finding team of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) visited the spot to take stock of the situation following the police lathicharge and firing of tear-gas shells at the locals and students in the last few days.
APCLC former president G Laxman said at a press conference here today that the police had been specifically targeting residents of Manikeshwar Nagar for no reason.
“Is it wrong to own a house near OU? Is it wrong on the part of the house-owners to rent out their premises to students? Police in mufti have been knocking on the door of every house and asking the owner to make the students vacate their house. They are also collecting information on the number of tenants in the houses,’’ Laxman said and added that the police informed the house-owners that the department would pay students Rs 300 each when they vacate the house.
When the fact-finding team has attempted to enter the campus it has been denied permission by the police on the ground that the situation inside the campus is grave. So the APCL team had to restrict its work to Manikeshwar Nagar where women were not allowed to come out of homes, the APCLC members alleged.
According to the APCLC members, one Ramaiah (15) suffered burns when a tear-gas shell fell on him during police action. In another case one Jagan of the same locality was targeted and beaten up by eight policemen.
“In Manikeshwar Nagar most of them are daily wage workers. Cases were booked against the locals though they got nothing to do with the Telangana movement. In the case of one Hari, 44 cases were registered against him,’’ the APCLC members alleged.
–Agencies