Wives of Andhra cops protest against officers

Officers of the Andhra Pradesh Special Police (APSP) are facing the wrath of the wives of the constables over the denial of leave to their husbands and poor working conditions.The protest, which began at

Kondapur near Hyderabad Saturday, spread to some districts Sunday with women taking up cudgels on behalf of their husbands, who are allegedly overworked and being denied leave by their seniors. The women also alleged that their seniors were taking bribes to sanction leave.Tension

prevailed at APSP eighth battalion at Kondapur when the women protesting for the second consecutive day tried to attack APSP Inspector

General A.B. Venkateshwar Rao.The protestors threw footwear towards Rao, who allegedly introduced a new system recently under which the constables were required to work for 40 days in remote areas outside

their battalion range. Raising slogans of 'we want justice', the women sat on the road.They lodged their protest at Kondapur when APSP Director General Gautam Swang reached there to review the situation. They demanded that Home Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy should hear their grievance.The women and children also came out to protest at the

fifth battalion in Vijayanagaram district, the 11th battalion in Kadapa

district and the 13th battalion in Adilabad district.The officials held talks with protestors and reportedly agreed to withdraw the controversial order. However, no official announcement was made.Meanwhile, the protests spread to other districts as women and children came out to confront the officials.The

protest began a few days ago when an eighth battalion constable Phani Kumar, who was sent to Rampachodavaram in East Godavari district, died of health problems after he was denied leave. However, the women came out on streets Saturday.The women blamed battalion commandant Ramesh Naidu for the constable's death. They alleged that Naidu was harassing the constables.