Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad, who was detained in Hyderabad Sunday evening ahead of planned protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA, was sent back to Delhi on Monday morning.
Describing “dictatorship as at its peak”, the Dalit leader said in an early morning tweet that his supporters were beaten up and he is being sent back to Delhi.
“Dictatorship is at its peak in Telangana… First, our people were thrashed with sticks and then I was arrested. Now, they have been brought me Hyderabad airport, they are sending me to Delhi,” the Bhim Army chief tweeted in Hindi.
Further tagging Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s office, Chandrashekhar Azad warned that the “Bahujan Samaj won’t forget this humiliation” adding “he will be back soon”.
तेलंगाना में तानाशाही चरम पर है लोगों के विरोध प्रदर्शन करने के अधिकार को छीना जा रहा है पहले हमारे लोगों को लाठियां मारी गई फिर मुझे गिरफ्तार कर लिया गया,अब मुझे एयरपोर्ट ले आएं है दिल्ली भेज रहे है। @TelanganaCMO याद रखे बहुजन समाज इस अपमान को कभी नही भूलेगा। जल्द वापिस आऊंगा
— Chandra Shekhar Aazad (@BhimArmyChief) January 27, 2020
After getting bail from a Delhi court ten days ago, Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad was detained again, this time from Hyderabad for protesting against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act on Sunday.
According to the police, the Dalit leader was taken into custody to prevent him from going ahead with the protest as no permission had been granted for the agitation.
Azad and a few supporters were outside a hotel as they were on their way to Crystal Garden in Hyderabad’s Mehdipatnam when they were detained.
Police said Azad was detained under Section 151 of the Indian Penal Code as there was no permission for the meeting.
It was not clear where they were kept on Sunday night. Their whereabouts were not known till late in the night and Azad’s supporters had even tried to stage a protest at the office of Hyderabad police commissioner to demand his release. They were also detained.
Followers of Azad took to Twitter to condemn the action of Hyderabad police and demanded his immediate release.
Azad, who has become a prominent face of the anti-CAA protests across the country, had arrived in Hyderabad to attend two meetings against the CAA, organised by the alumni of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and All India Dalit Muslim Adivasi Progressive Front (AIDMPAF).
They were shifted from one police station to the another, and some supporters following the police vehicle, however, lost track of it.
Earlier, the police had started detaining the activists of the AIDMPAF and other supporters of Azad reaching the venue. It dispersed many others who came to attend the meet.
Azad’s detention came 10 days after his release on bail from the Tihar Jail in Delhi. He was arrested by the Delhi police on December 20 on charges of inciting people during the anti-CAA protest. He was held when he tried to take out a march from the Jamia Masjid to Jantar Mantar.