The case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against Sai Bhagirath, the son of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay, is now a test case for how Telangana deals with crimes against women and children. The case comes in the backdrop of the State government’s active initiatives to make online and offline spaces safer for women.
Earlier, when a government official was targeted by a ‘blind item’ in a news channel, the government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe it; a journalist of the TV channel was detained as a consequence of the move. Similarly, when an actress and her family were subjected to vicious online trolling and abuse, the police booked cases against 73 persons, and some of them have been arrested. Recently, a senior IPS officer went undercover and stood near a busy city junction at night, and at least 40 men tried to approach her. Further, data from the National Crime Records Bureau shows that there has been a 3.4% rise in registered cases of crime against women from 22,066 in 2022 to 24,495 in 2024 in Telangana.
In light of such incidents, the ‘Stand with Her’ initiative launched by the Chief Minister in March has mainstreamed conversation about casual sexism ranging from staring and stalking to sexist comments in the workplace. It has also opened up a role for men as allies in the effort to make society safer for women.
These steps show the seriousness with which the State is dealing with social and online harassment of women. In an age of AI bot-led attacks on women and systemic baiting and trolling by groups justifying rapists and molesters, the action of the Telangana government is timely. However, in spite of such measures, the Chief Minister had to step in and ask why no action has been initiated in the case of the Union Minister’s son even though the complaint was lodged on May 8.
This is the rub — the challenge to deal with both the powerful and the powerless in the same way under the law. A day after reports of the POCSO case surfaced, women’s groups and political parties have hit the streets in Hyderabad demanding action. Between the narrative of action and the action itself is the long shadow cast by political compulsions and power-play. It remains to be seen whether the State can walk the talk when it comes to women’s safety.
Online attacks
It also remains to be seen if the State can strike a balance between safeguarding free expression and curbing online targeting and harassment. Name-calling and personal attacks are not new to Indian politics or public life. What has changed is the scale, speed and anonymity with which online abuse unfolds. Women in positions of visibility are being increasingly subjected to orchestrated campaigns laced with sexualised slurs, threats and disinformation. The impact of social media trolling is not just confined to reputational harm; such attacks affect mental health, professional standing and personal safety, and are often intended to silence women from public engagement altogether. These attacks are often amplified by bots and anonymous accounts, making it harder for the cyber police to trace. The Telangana police, which is considered the first mover in technical fields, has accepted it as much. It has taken recourse to reaching out to tech platforms directly to identify the people behind certain handles; it has even invoked the dreaded Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) to get details of a social media handle that had allegedly been sharing misinformation.
Approving arrests and instituting an SIT carries social and administrative signalling. By stepping in when a serving civil servant was targeted, the government is asserting that institutional authority will not be undermined through digital smear campaigns. At the same time, the action following the abuse of an actress suggests an attempt to broaden that protection beyond the bureaucracy. Yet questions remain about whether similar urgency will be extended to less prominent women who face daily harassment.
Justice and a functioning law and order system is what people expect now. The Chief Minister’s word on the POCSO case comes at the right moment. Can the Telangana government deliver justice and safety to all women, irrespective of the background of the complainants?