An Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of police was suspended for embracing Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat candidate K Madhavi Latha on Monday, April 22. In a widely circulated video on social media, Uma Devi, ASI at Saidabad Police Station, was seen shaking hands with Madhavi Latha and hugging her while in uniform.
Reports suggest that the police officer was on duty when the BJP leader was campaigning in an area under the jurisdiction of Saidabad Police Station.
Following this incident, Hyderabad Police Commissioner K Sreenivas Reddy suspended the police officer for violating the Model Code of Conduct.
In the video, Uma Devi can be seen approaching Madhavi Latha, who was campaigning with party workers in a locality in Hyderabad. They shook hands and hugged, both appearing to be smiling and exchanging a few words.
Madhavi Latha had previously sparked controversy last week with an alleged provocative gesture of pretending to shoot an imaginary arrow at a mosque during a procession on Ram Navami. On April 20, the Begum Bazar Police filed an FIR against her for hurting the religious sentiments of a community through her provocative gesture, following a complaint from a Hyderabad resident. Madhavi Latha has been booked under section 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 125 of the Representation of the People Act.