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Hyderabad: The environmental activists who were detained by Banjara Hills police for just hugging the trees outside the Kasu Brahmananda Reddy (KBR) Park in Banjara Hills, have stated that they were charged under various sections, just with the intention of intimidating them, and deterring other activists from repeating the same.

The activists who tried a Chipko Movement-style protest in the middle of the night realised the harsh reality that they are not living in the 1970s, and that they were dealing with the Telangana government, where text book references of great movements from the school days were actually much different from the ground reality.

In a video address, Vijay, one of the activists who wasn’t detained, but was standing up to his fellow activists, said that while nobody was touched during the overnight protest, after all the participants had left the scene, the police took one activist named Durga Prasad under custody, and shifted him to the police station.

A few other activists also reached the police station, only to be detained by the police personnel.

Vijay said that since 3 am on Thursday, he has been at the police station questioning the arrest of Durga Prasad, and three more activists who he said, were not present at the protest, but were arrested and charged.

The four activists were charged under Section 126 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which is ‘wrongful restraint’ and preventing someone from moving.

“We only came there after seeing a social media post from a concerned citizen that the trees between the KBR Park and the Jubilee Hills check-post were being felled,” Vijay said,

“We were preventing the trees from from falling. We weren’t preventing anybody from moving,” he clarified.

He said they were also charged with Section 324 (4) of BNS, which imposes punishment for damaging property and causing destruction.

“What property damage have we caused sir? We were only there holding hands and protecting trees. Ironically, they have charged us under Section 351 (2), which is criminal intimidation, for threatening someone. We only requested the people not to threaten. We haven’t threatened anybody, nor do we have any interest to threaten anybody.

Announcing that the allegations will be contested in the courts, he urged the police not to succumb to the pressure, and to act in a fair manner.

“It is the right to speech that was curtailed, and wrongful sections that have been imposed,” he stressed.

Dr Lubna Sarwath alleges ‘public nuisance’ by forest officials

Environmental activist and advocate Dr Lubna Sarwath has informed Telangana Director General of Police CV Anand, that the Forest officials had created ‘public nuisance’ under section 270 of BNS, while they didn’t have any permissions to fell any tree in that area.

She informed the DGP that a representation has already been submitted to the Hyderabad District Collector, and that it has been forwarded to the District Forest Officer (DFO) of Hyderabad.

“Police instead of verifying truth of tree savers are detaining them. Unacceptable,” she complained.