Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi activist Bharathi allegedly dies during dharna in Hyderabad
By Express News Service | Published: 06th November 2017 06:11 PM |
Last Updated: 07th November 2017 09:32 AM | A+A A- |
Family members of Bharathi mourn her death at Osmania Hospital in Hyderabad. (Vinay Madapu)
HYDERABAD: A woman member of Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS), founded for achieving categorisation of Scheduled Castes people, allegedly died of cardiac arrest when police tried to disperse the agitating MRPS activists at Hyderabad Collectorate here on Monday.
The woman, Bharathi, from Secunderabad cantonment area was taking part in the "collectorate Muttadi" (laying siege to collectorate) call given by the MRPS founder Manda Krishna Madiga, asking his organisation members to stage protests at all collectorate offices across the state to exert pressure on the state and central governments to categorise SCs.
While the organisation's members were staging a dharna, after reaching the Hyderabad Collectorate, police arrived there and began arresting all the agitating activists. When the police were bodily lifting the MRPS members to shift them into police vehicles to take them to the nearest police station, a minor scuffle took place between the activists and police. Then, suddenly Bharathi fell down. She complained of chest pain and went into coma. She was rushed to Osmania General Hospital for immediate treatment. But, doctors declared her brought dead.
A #woman dies during protest of #MRPS demanding reservations at Collectorate, #Hyderabad, @NewIndianXpress pic.twitter.com/hgsDd3m0Qo
— Mouly Mareedu (@Mouli_TNIE) November 6, 2017
Enraged by the sudden death of their fellow activist, a large number of MRPS activists reached Osmania General Hospital and started protesting. A large contingent of police has been deployed in and around the hospital where Bharathi's body was kept.
The issue led to a verbal duel between the treasury benches and Opposition members in the ongoing winter session of the state Assembly.
Even as the House was holding a debate on the issue of purification of land records, Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader K Jana Reddy informed the House about the death of MRPS activist and sought a statement from the government on the entire issue.
After arguments between the ruling party members and opposition MLAs, the government announced that it would issue a statement as demanded by the opposition parties.
