In another blatant display of communal fascism, Sayeedabad police harassed five female students by arresting them on charges of “preaching Islam”. These students of a respectable Islamic school in Hyderabad were passing through Paslabasti when some mischievous elements lodged a complaint with the Sayeedabad police accusing them of preaching Islam to the locals.
Sub-inspector Rajshekhar Reddy immediately reached the spot unaccompanied by lady police constables, and he and his team of constables forced the terrified girls into their van and held them up at the local police station for two hours, without giving any reasons for the arrest. The police reportedly misbehaved with the girls, and left them only after having videographed them and taken details of their families and addresses. The sub-inspector also unsuccessfully tried to get the son of a local political leader to lodge a formal complaint against the girls.
When questioned about the issue, Inspector Sayeedabad Zone Ram Mohan Rao dismissed it as a minor incident, pointing out that no case has been registered against the girls, though a general diary has been registered about the incident. The parents as well as school management are alarmed at the turn of events, especially since certain dubious people of the other community have been reported to be visiting the school, inquiring about the girls.