Hyderabad: The Hyderabad police are reported to have went berserk in the name of quelling the violence that has been erupted after the BJP MLA T Raja Singh was released on bail in a case filed against him for making derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammed.
Though the BJP suspended Singh, known for making fierce speeches, his release on bail on the same day of his arrest enraged the members of Muslim community who took to street demanding his arrest.
As per the reports, the police with its heavy set up fell upon protesters in Shah Ali Banda, a Muslim-dominated neighbourhood in Hyderabad's Old City, where those who were not part of the protest too were subjected to the brutal assault. Among the victims, there were minor boys, the reports suggested.
The protest began at 9.30 Wednesday following the reports of Raja Singh's release. It was the stone pelting by some miscreants among the protestors that provoked the Police. Witnesses and victims say the police that went on a rampage that night caned those mercilessly whoever was sited and they also chased some and brutally manhandled.
Some videos are viral on social media where it can be seen police storming into houses and assaulting people who were not part of the protests or innocents in the stone pelting incident. The police action in Shah Ali Banda created a situation of fear in the Muslim community for the victims the night was a nerve freezing one which they said had not witnessed such a horrific police attack.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the police arrested Raja Singh and invoked the Preventive Detention Act against the MLA.
Earlier, Congress and AIMIM had both demanded that the PD Act be invoked against the legislator for repeatedly making provocative comments. According to police records, 18 out of 101 criminal cases registered against Raja Singh since 2004 were communal offences.