HC directs police to issue notice to accused in Erravalli ‘purge’ case

Justice T. Madhavi Devi on Tuesday ordered the Station House Officer of the Markoor police station in Siddipet to issue notices to 21 persons against whom three First Information Reports (FIRs) were issued following allegations that they were indulging in “purification” by sprinkling turmeric water on the road where Dalits staged a protest demonstration accusing two Bharat RashtraSamitha of the PrashtraSamisada Assembly. Kumar.

The judge issued the order after hearing arguments in three separate lunch petitions filed by 21 persons against whom cases were booked under various sections of the Bharatitya Nyaya Sanhita Act and the Prevention of Atrocities Against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act. The petitioners sought protection from arrest as the police will put them behind bars as part of the investigation.

The judge directed the investigators to issue notices to all petitioners under Section 35(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Suraksha Sanhita and take further action in the matter in accordance with law. During the ongoing assembly session, an altercation broke out between BRS legislators and riot police who were deployed outside the main gate of the assembly when the latter prevented them from entering the assembly.

Tempers ran high after two BRS legislators made alleged derogatory remarks and used profanity against the speaker. Describing it as an attack on Dalits, hundreds of Congress party activists led by their leaders gathered and marched towards former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s farm at Erravalli in Siddipet district.

After the protest demonstrations ended, some persons, including the petitioners, sprinkled turmeric water on the road near the Hanuman temple in Varadarajpur village, alleging that the protest marches had desecrated the area. An FIR was issued by the police for these “clean-up” actions.

Published – 15 Sep 2026 22:11 IST