Hyderabad: The Hyderabad police is stopping people and checking their Whatsapp messages for words like Ganja and drugs in the middle of the road in the city.
Such video has gone viral in which the cops can be seen asking for the phones of people in the middle of the road and has been alleged that the police are searching for the words like ganja in the search box of their whatsapp chats.
Reports said the viral video of the search operation was from the Bahadurpura limits of Hyderabad, while the Hyderabad Police are regularly conducting such operations on the instruction of the Commissioner of Police.
Speaking to The News Minute, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South Zone, Gajarao Bhupal confirmed that police was carrying out such raids. “Yes, I am aware that phones are being checked. However, we are not forcing anybody nor are we snatching away their phones to check. People are cooperating and no one is complaining, so I don’t think there is anything illegal,” he said.
When asked if the public have an option to deny giving their phones when asked by cops, the DCP said, “The public can deny giving their phone. However, we will then have to see what legal provisions apply. So far, we have not faced any such issue. There are no specific instructions as there has not been any issue so far.”
Later, the Hyderabad police was criticised for checking the mobiles phones of the people in the city that went viral on social media on Thursday.
Kalinga AI