Bhim Army chief detained in Hyderabad ahead of anti-CAA protest meet

HYDERABAD: Anticipating that he may stage a rally, Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad was taken into preventive custody while he was on the way to a protest meeting at Mehdipatnam on Sunday evening. Azad was in the city to participate in protest meetings against CAA-NRC-NPR.
Hyderabad police brass said a large number of Azad’s followers gathered at a hotel, where he was camping.He was supposed to reach Crystal Garden, Mehdipatnam, where he was planning to participate in Republic Day celebrations organised by All India Dalit, Muslim, Adivasi Progressive Front. Police, who were already tailing him, took him into custody the moment he stepped out of the hotel near Nampally around 6.30pm.
“We had information that Azad and others were planning to take out a rally. Publicity was given widely on social media and also among organisers of the event that a rally will be taken out. Since police had not given any permission for the rally, Azad was taken into prevention custody,’’ a senior Hyderabad police officer told TOI. He was likely to be released later in the night, sources said.
Apart from Azad, other protesters, who were with him at the hotel and Crystal Garden, were also taken into custody. On learning that Azad was taken to the Habeeb Nagar police station, protesters started to gather outside the police station. Later, Azad was shifted to the Bolarum police station, while other protesters were sent to Goshamahal grounds.
Earlier, Azad participated in a protest programme on Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) campus at Abdullapurmet, which was organized to focus on student issues as well as Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
He reached the campus by 11.20am and took part in an interactive session, where the main focus was on sexual harassment at educational institutions and how it should be dealt, especially when there was little help from university administration and police.
“If the police and administration are not addressing sexual harassment cases, approach women and child welfare department,” Azad said, adding along with protest it was also important to bring external pressure to get justice. He was at TISS campus till 1.30pm.
Azad also took to Twitter and alleged that police personnel not only made female students sit at the station the whole night, but also mistreated them.
“Insulting our sisters will not be tolerated,” tweeted Azad from TISS campus demanding the Rachakonda police to reach the institute and explain why female students were treated badly and made to sit at the station.
He also accompanied the students along with his lawyer to Adibatla police station to find out the status about sexual harassment cases, eight of them filed by TISS students in the current academic year. He left the station around 3pm,
“Eighty-three students were at the police station the whole night yesterday to file a complaint against molesters. The FIR copy was given at 4pm today, that too after intervention of Azad,” said Shashank, a student of TISS, said.