Hyderabad: City Police have booked an independent journalist for posting about another woman’s alleged harassment by electricity department officials after a power cut, on the social media site X.
On July 18, Revathi Pogadadanda had made a post alleging that a woman from L.B. Nagar in Hyderabad had been intimidated into deleting her post about her experiences during a disruption in power supply.
Revathi wrote that soon as the post by the L.B. Nagar woman went viral and caught the attention of the control room of the Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited, a lineman from the local electricity sub-station rushed to her flat. The woman lives in a gated community. The lineman allegedly demanded that she take down the post, wrote Revathi, and threatened her.
Revathi told The Wire that she called up the woman, whom she did not identify. Revathi claims to have recorded her statement and then posted her own remarks on the alleged incident from her X handle, @revathitweets.
The woman had appeared disturbed by the four-hour power cut, Revathi said. “I could not hear her properly and thought she said that the power cut had been seven hours long. That is what I wrote in the initial post,” she said.
She wrote on X at 4.52 pm on June 18:
“A woman from LB Nagar, #Hyderabad was terrorized by an unexpected incident today. Tired of the frequent power cuts, she tweeted about the incident and a lineman drops at her residence and demands her to delete the tweet. She called the electricity department and told them about this. Requested them not to send them such people to threaten her. The official then tells her that she should call them and not tweet about it because THERE IS TOO MUCH PRESSURE ON THE ELECTRICITY DEPARTMENT FROM THE ‘PEOPLE ABOVE’. I cross checked the incident…there is a recording of the incident but the woman didn’t want me to share it here because she fears for her safety!
“Even when I spoke with her, she said that she is already worried since she lives in a rented accommodation and the #TGSPDCL already knows her address. I hope the department & the minister in-charge understands that this is harassment. The woman raised a complaint only after suffering many times. Prior to this incident they had a 7hr power cut apparently. AND please understand that in the age of social media- people will complain on social media! Asking them not to speak because of your inadequacies is NOT right. SENDING A PERSON HOME TO DEMAND DELETING THE SOCIAL MEDIA POST IS HARASSMENT! Kindly focus on the solution NOT coverups”.
Revathi said the L.B. Nagar woman deleted the post on X but not before sending her its screenshot. The journalist’s post, in turn, led to outcry on social media.
Within hours of Revathi’s post, police had stirred.
At 6.46 pm on June 18, she wrote:
A VEILED THREAT?!
My tweet about a woman being harassed by
@tgspdcl
’s employee evoked response from many.
BUT what I didn’t expect is how swiftly the POLICE will react to my tweet!
Within minutes of my tweet – the Rachakonda Police handle messaged me 😊😀!
Why did the POLICE want to get in touch with me? I leave it to your imagination! And how do they know which jurisdiction I fall under?
The point of journalism is to hold people in positions of power accountable. I have done it in the past and I will do it in the future.
In screenshots posted by Revathi, Rachakonda Police is shown as asking her for her contact details. When she asked why, the account appears to tell her that it is there to help her and the L.B. Nagar woman.
An assistant engineer in the operation circle of the Telangana Power Distribution Company, M. Dileep, who filed the police complaint said the lineman Rajaiah Chary did not threaten the L.B. Nagar woman who had initially raised the power disruption on X. “He merely asked her to delete the tweet, which she obliged,” he said.
Dileep claimed he checked power supply data and disruptions in the sub-station area for the past six months and found no power cut of seven hours.
“A power feeder was taken off for 10 minutes during the routine changeover of incoming supply on one feeder being transferred to another,” he said.
Dileep said that he had lodged the complaint “on instructions from his higher ups as the series of tweets had the potential of blaming the government for nothing.”
By 11.19 am yesterday, June 19, Revathi had got news of the first information report against her. She was booked under Section 505 of Indian Penal Code for making statements conducing to public mischief and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act which lays down punishment for crime through the use of computer or any communication device.
MY MEDAL OF HONOR: AN FiR 🎖️🎖️🎖️
In a BIZARRE move, an FIR has been lodged against me while the actual culprits from Telangana Power & Co, who harassed a female consumer in broad daylight, walk free!
@RahulGandhi
@priyankagandhi
@revanth_anumula
– Is this your stance on media independence? Is your government trying to silence journalists who expose the truth?
If you do believe in democracy stand with us when we fight for justice, and protect the freedom of the press!
PS: I chose not to post the video of the harassed woman to protect her privacy. If this is the hooliganism officials unleash on the media, who will protect the people?
Revathi told The Wire that she did not expect the police to file an FIR as the usual procedure was to seek a rejoinder. She said she was ready to go to court against the move.
Many have criticised the new Congress government in the state for this move.
Among them former state minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K.T. Rama Rao wrote on X that the incident reflected the “shocking state of affairs in Telangana”.
“What right has the @TelanganaCOPs got to intrude and issue veiled threats to a journalist who raised a genuine concern about citizens plight with respect to Electricity ? Is the police department running Energy department or is it just plain police Raj where you will file cases on anyone who raises questions in social media? Any answers @TelanganaDGP Garu or @RachakondaCop ???”
