Activists claimed that while drug addicts are found among people from all ‘sections’, search and arrest of criminals are being done from ‘lower strata of society’.
Siege and search operations project areas as ‘criminal zones’, are a violation of privacy, and drug consumption is seen in all sections of society, but searches are being carried out in the relatively ‘lower strata’ of society , a fact-finding committee has looked at the issue.
The fact-finding committee included Chaitanya Mahila Samakhya activists Surya, Sajya, Nikhat Fatima, Sujatha Surepalli from Dalit Women’s Association, Kaneez Fatima, Jyothi, SQ Masood and Bilal from Human Rights Forum.
In a statement to the media, the committee said they visited the neighborhood where cordon and search operations were witnessed and spoke to residents about what happened during these operations. These neighborhoods include Chandraiah Huts, Hanumanthu Huts and Narsaiah Huts, a settlement of 236 huts on the banks of Musi. The team said that a large number of residents here were Madiga, and some Scheduled Tribe families and Muslims. The committee also interacted with the residents of Nawab Saheb Kunta and Tigal Kunta, which also witnessed a cordon and search operation.
Terming the siege and search as basically a ‘military strategy’ to crack down on the insurgents, the committee said that as per information received under the Right to Information Act, the operation is carried out under Section 94 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The committee observed that many women who were living in areas where cordon and search operations were conducted were confused and intimidated by the presence of the police, especially since they had arrived without any prior notice. They also observed that such operations ‘enable a range of human rights violations, including physical intimidation and assault, invasion of privacy, arbitrary and unlawful detention, collective punishment and destruction of private property’, and emphasized that That such areas are referred to as ‘criminal zones’.
Activists claimed that while drug addicts are found among people from all ‘sections’, search and arrest of criminals are being done from ‘lower strata of society’.
Terming the siege and search illegal, the committee demanded that the police stop these operations immediately. The list of demands includes ousting of officers in plain clothes, ending confiscation of property like vehicles in the absence of written orders and stopping checking of citizens’ phones.
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