india

Updated: Jul 08, 2019 18:13 IST

A week after a woman forest officer was attacked by a mob allegedly led by a ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader in Telangana’s Komaram Bheem Asifabad district, the police booked a case against her and 15 of her colleagues under SC/ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act.

Chole Anitha, a forest range officer at Kaghaznagar, was assaulted by a mob of tribals, supported by local TRS leader and Zilla Parishad vice-chairman Koneru Krishna Rao at Sarsala village of Kaghaznagar block when she along with other forest officials had gone there for a tree plantation programme on June 30, said on Monday that the case has been foisted on her.

Rao, brother of TRS MLA from Sirpur Kaghaznagar Koneru Konappa, was seen beating Anitha and her colleagues indiscriminately with sticks. He later resigned from the vice-chairman post and was subsequently arrested along with 13 others.

The police booked cases against Krishna Rao and 13 others under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including attempt murder.

On Sunday, a local tribal woman Nayini Saroja, from Sarsala, lodged a complaint at the Esugaon police station stating that Anitha and her colleagues in the forest department had abused them by taking their ‘caste’ name.

“Based on her complaint, we booked a case against Anitha and 15 other forest department staff under SC/ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act,” Asifabad deputy superintendent of police Satyanarayana said.

When contacted, Anitha said she had not received any copy of an FIR (first information report) from the police so far, though she had come to know about the case from her colleagues.

Denying the allegations, Anitha said she had not abused anybody nor had she attacked anyone. “I was unarmed and was only doing my duty assigned to me by the department to take up plantation in the forest land,” she said.

“The case foisted against me is baseless and will not stand legal scrutiny as they won’t be able to prove their charges,” she said.

Anitha, who resumed her duties on Monday after undergoing treatment in Hyderabad for the injuries she had received during the June 30 assault, had been given the police protection, as she feared for her life.

“Three days ago, the police department provided me with security with four constables in two shifts. From today, it has been reduced to one plus one,” she said.