Chittoor Woman Accused Of Stealing Two Lakh Rupees Beaten In Police Custody: Report

A Domestic worker in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh alleged that she was beaten by the police at Chittoor 1 Town police station. Her video was shared on social media by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). It showed the survivor alleging harassment by police over the allegation of theft by her employers.

The survivor in the case was named by TDP as M Umamaheswari, who is a resident of Lakshmi Nagar Colony. The place comes under the Chittoor 1 Town police station. According to her, the case of theft levelled against her by the employers was false. When she disagreed with the case against her, she was allegedly beaten.

The video shared by TDP shows the back of the woman and signs of assault. In the video, the woman is sitting on steps, unable to even walk to the auto. She is picked by a man and a woman, who take her towards a waiting auto.

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She reportedly works as a house help at a residence of Venugopal Reddy, who is the Superintendent of District Prisons of Chittoor. According to the survivor, on the day when she was alleged of stealing money, she has visited their house as part of her daily routine and found the couple fighting and later she was accused of stealing the missing money. Reddy filed a complaint against her at the police station.

She was accused of stealing Rs 2 lakh and the police allegedly interrogated both her along with her husband. She alleges that the police forced them to accept the allegations and return the stolen amount. Although, both of them kept denying it. In the video shared by the political party, she is seen saying, "The police harassed me. Used filthy language against me. They tortured me in a dark room at the police station. Police did not allow me to return home till late nights."

Chittoor Woman Beaten In Police Custody

The TDP shared her video with the caption, "Barbaric! Brutal!! Uma Maheswari, a Dalit woman from Chittoor town, was tortured in the police station in the most brutal of ways." They added in Twitter threads, "When she admitted herself into the hospital to get treated, fearing media attention, the police applied pressure on hospital authorities to forcibly discharge her."

They further added, "Where are we heading to as a society? People like Justice Chandru must speak out about such incidents where power is misused on the poor, vulnerable individuals from the underprivileged sections. If such incidents do not shake up our conscience, we are not humans anymore."

However, in a conversation with ANI on the allegations by the survivor, the Sub Inspector of police at the same police station Srinivasa Rao denied the claims and said that there was "no truth" in her statements. "Venugopal Reddy lodged a complaint against Umamaheswari suspecting her involvement in the theft of Rs 2 lakh, at his house, Based on the complaint, a police investigation started. By sending a formal notice to her, the police invited her to the station and inquired. She accepted that she took the money," the police version of the incident stated.

They said that she was questioned and it was revealed that the money was with her husband. The police alleged that she asked them to let her go home and get her husband. They also said that the police did not harass, torture or used abusive words against her.