(The Hindu) The National Alliance of People’s Movements, a group of civic rights activists, has written to Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy demanding a review of police surveillance infrastructure built over the last 10 years. The letter calls for comprehensive policing reforms to stop violation of constitutional and human rights, for privacy, and freedom of expression of citizens in Telangana.
The 25 signatories of the letter include well-known rights activists Rama Melkote, Meera Sanghamitra, Jeevan Kumar, Khaleeda Parveen, Shaikh Salauddin, Natasha Ramarathnam, K. Sajaya, and S.Q. Masood, among others.
The letter logs details that the CM was a target of police surveillance too: “In fact, even you have been a victim of this ‘surveillance setup’ and related police harassment, during your time as an Opposition leader. In a recent case, senior police officials were booked for targeting senior politicians, members of the judiciary, social activists and media by phone tapping and accessing other internet and telephonic communications, illegally.”
It has 18 demands, including end to excessive policing of gig and platform workers, end of ‘Mission Chabutra’, the end to cordon – and – search operations, and installation of CCTV cameras in police stations, among others.