Lok Satta demands withdrawal of false cases

If an inquiry reveals that cases of serious offences had been foisted on innocent students, the Government should release them too, the Lok Satta Party today demanded.

Talking to the media, party leaders G. Raja Reddy, Bhisetty Babji and V. Vijayender Reddy reiterated the party view that the Government should withdraw cases against students guilty of minor offences during agitations irrespective of their region or religion. The only exceptions should be cases relating to violence, arson, property destruction and money extortion. The Government should review even such cases to find out if innocent students had been falsely implicated in them. The Government should withdraw such cases and punish officials guilty of foisting false cases.

The Lok Satta leaders underlined that students should not be deprived of their legal and constitutional right to carry on any agitation. At the same time, it should not encourage anarchy with indiscriminate withdrawal of serious cases, as Governments did in the past.

Condemning the attacks on Lok Satta Party offices, the leaders wanted all parties and civil society organizations to join hands to preserve and promote democratic values.

The Lok Satta Party leaders took serious exception to TDP leader N. Janardhan Reddy’s assertion that Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan would have been defeated had the TDP fielded its candidate in the Kukatpally Assembly constituency. They said that the TDP would have been defeated even in Kukatpally, going by the results in other Assembly constituencies in Greater Hyderabad. Leaders who let down students by not giving up their posts as promised are making baseless allegations to cover up their bankrupt politics.

They recalled that Dr. JP who founded the party to cleanse politics had asked why Chief Minister K. Rosaiah had not been arrested when he took part in a sit-in in a prohibited area on November 12.