Cases slapped against volunteers for protesting tree-felling near KBR Park

Five volunteers who protested the tree felling around the KBR National Park in Hyderabad have been slapped with cases under various sections by the police, after being detained for several hours at the police station.

The volunteers named in the FIR were Uppu Ashok, Rasamsetti Durga Prasad, Bukya Venkatesh, Mallangi Vijay Sai Reddy, and Kurwa Vijay.

According to sources, a few volunteers who noticed tree felling activity in the wee hours of Wednesday had asked the workers involved to stop, saying it was illegal to fell trees. When the workers did not yield, they reportedly formed a human chain around the tree, and stalled the work for some time.

“At around 3 a.m., the volunteers dispersed and headed for their homes. At the time, Durga Prasad, crossing the road was accosted by the police after the tree felling workers identified him, and taken to the police station,” a volunteer said.

After the news spread, four more persons — who went to the police station in the morning to help the detainee — were also detained.

“The Detective Inspector was very rude to us. He said he would arrest us all and send us to remand. When I asked him to let us know the offence, he said he was under no compulsion to let us know. Later we came to know that we were being accused of using weapons and demanding money from the tree cutters,” Mr. Vijay Sai Reddy, who spoke to the media after being released on station bail, said.

The FIR however invoked sections 126(2), 324(4), 351(2) read with 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deal with wrongful restraint, aggravated mischief causing damage to property, and criminal intimidation.

“On Sunday the police raised objections about the drone I was using for videography, and confiscated it. I am being additionally slapped with a case for flying the drone,” he said. On Monday too, when a group of 15 volunteers gathered inside the park to discuss the issue, Mr.Vijay Sai Reddy says, a huge posse of policemen surrounded them and asked them to vacate the place, saying it was ‘VIP’ zone.

A motley group of residents and environmental activists have risen up against the tree felling around the National Park to make way for seven flyovers and seven underpasses as part of the Hyderabad City Innovative and Transformative Infrastructure project.

While the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is claiming that the trees in the Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ) of the park are not touched, a case is already pending in the High Court disputing the ESZ fixed without public hearing. Activists are claiming that the work was started before the court vacated the stay on the project. Several protests have taken place near the park under the ‘Save KBR Park’ banner, including candle light vigils and human chains around the park.