Hyderabad: ASHA worker who slapped cop booked along with 10 others

ASHA workers workers have been booked under BNS Sections 126 (2), 127 (2), 221, 223 (a) and 132 r/w 3(5) for assaulting and obstructing on-duty public servants.

Hyderabad: An ASHA worker, whose video of slapping a police officer went viral on social media, has been booked along with 10 others by the Sultan Bazar police.The Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers have been booked under BNS Sections 126 (2), 127 (2), 221, 223 (a) and 132 r/w 3(5) for assaulting and obstructing on-duty public servants.On Thursday, December 9, a video of an ASHA worker – B Tirupathamma – went viral on social media after she slapped Sultan Bazar station house officer (SHO) Srinivasa Chary while being detained for demanding an increment of salary to Rs 18,000, a pre-election promise of the Congress.In the video, Tirupathamma is seen crying in pain after her leg got stuck in between the police vehicle. At that time, Chary was closing the door. Withering in pain, she slapped the police officer as a defence mechanism.Later in the day, a police complaint was filed against assistant commissioner of police (ACP) K Shankar and Sultan Bazaar circle inspector (CI) Srinivas Chary with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for allegedly manhandling and slapping the ASHA worker.Speaking on the issue, ACP K Shankar blamed the BRS for creating a chaos. He also said that the ASHA workers were permitted to protest on December 12. “It was the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) which called for this protest following which most of these women came out from various districts. As today was the first day of the Assembly session, the BRS leaders pressed the ASHA workers to sit on the roads till late night,” he was quoted by The New Indian Express.

ASHA workers indefinite fast

Demanding the state government to issue a government order during the present winter session of the Assembly implementing fixed wages of Rs 18,000 per month, ASHA workers warned the state government that if it failed to meet their demands by the budget sessions in February 2025, they will all go on an indefinite strike.The ASHA workers affiliated with the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) laid siege to the office of the commissioner of the medical and health department at Koti on Tuesday, December 10.They submitted a representation to the commissioner and had discussions with him on the 19 demands put forth by them.