Telangana HC Slams Cops For Arrest of Osmania Professor C Kasim

The court ordered the police to produce Kasim before them by 10.30 am on Sunday, 19 January.

(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

The Telangana High Court chided the state police for arresting Osmania University professor Chintakindi Kasim from the college premises on Saturday, 18 January, allegedly in connection with a four-year-old case involving Maoists.

The Court ordered the police to produce Kasim before them by 10.30 am on Sunday, 19 January.

“We placed the facts before the Court. How the police entered the house breaking the back door and terrorised the family, how grounds of arrest were not informed and all mobile phones were forcibly taken away,” Kasim’s lawyer said to The Indian Express.

What Are The Allegations Against Chintakindi Kasim?

Associate Professor of Osmania University’s Telugu department, Chintakindi Kasim was alleged to be involved in a case registered under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act among other sections in Mulugu Police station in 2015.

“That case is under investigation and we collected the material evidences also. Recently some inputs have also been received,” Siddipet police Commissioner D Joel Davis told PTI.

“We obtained a search warrant and conducted searches at his residence in the early morning. We seized certain documents and some electronic evidence,” the police official said.

He further said the police have the incriminating information that the OU faculty is in continuous touch with Maoist party leaders.

‘Deliberate Harassment of Intellectuals Under Pretext of Having Maoist Links’

Reacting to the arrest, CPI senior leader Narayana alleged that the government was deliberately harassing intellectuals under the pretext of having Maoist links and foisting false cases.

Professor Kasim’s wife, Snehlatha said that her husband was being falsely implicated, and that they had not received any summons about the case till date, The Indian Express reported.

Last year K Jagan, an assistant professor of the OU and a member of Viplava Rachayitala Sangham (Virasam), was picked up from his residence here by a police team from Jogulamba Gadwal district for his suspected links with the Maoists.

In 2018, Virasam leader and renowned Telugu poet P Varavara Rao was arrested by Maharashtra Police in Bhima Koregaon case.

(With inputs from The Indian Express and PTI)