Hyderabad, Dec 20: A Dalit woman was stripped and beaten by the henchmen of politicians in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, for opposing encroachment in the name of housing under the NTR Griha Kalpa scheme.
The incident occurred in survey number 77, Jerripotulapalem, under Pendurthi police station limits.
The incident, which took place on Tuesday evening, came to light on Wednesday morning, with local Dalit organisations and Left party leaders lodging a complaint with the Pendurthi police and staging a demonstration demanding action against the accused.
The Pendurthi police have taken six people into custody. All the accused, including two women, are said to be from the ruling Telugu Desam Party. The victim has been shifted to the King George Hospital.
According to locals, the land was initially allocated to a few Dalit families, who had been cultivating the land and where some of them had houses.
However, in later years, the local revenue officers reallocated a part of the land to AP Beverages Bottling plant, leaving only 88 cents of land for 14 Dalit families.
These 88 cents were then allegedly allocated to workers of the local Telugu Desam Party. The Dalits have filed a case in the high court, which is pending.
On Tuesday, TDP leaders Madaka Parvathi, Madaka Appalaraju, Vadisela Srinivas, Salapu Jogarao, Raparthi Gangamma and Madaka Ramu Naidu reportedly embarked on dismantling the structures with the help of bulldozers.
When the Dalit woman objected to this, they verbally abused her, stripped and punched her, even as she cried for help.
Former Congress MP and Dalit leader Harsha Kumar, who visited the area on Wednesday, said ruling party MLA Bandaru Satyanarayana is behind the attempt to encroach upon land assigned for the Dalits.
"This is the methodology of the ruling party. Intimidating Dalits has become a regular practice for the Chandrababu Naidu government," Harsha Kumar said.
On Wednesday, the land-grabbers made yet another attempt to drive away the Dalit families, leading to clashes between the two groups.
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