Villagers attack cops for stopping obscene dance performance

Three policemen, including a sub -inspector, were injured and a police jeep damaged in an attack by residents of a village in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh when they had gone to stop what was described by officials as an "obscene dance performance".
According to police, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code has been clamped on the village of Pakala Pallepalem, following the incident.
The situation in the village is now under control after additional forces were sent there, they added.
According to police, their personnel had gone to the village after receiving information that an "obscene dance performance" by transgenders has been organised by villagers at a Ganesh pandal.

Singarayakonda mandal Sub-Inspector YV Ramanaiah had led a police team to the village in the morning today to stop the performance and the personnel had to resort to a lathicharge after the villagers resisted.
However, the action enraged the villagers who attacked the police team and pelted them with stones.

The sub-inspector sustained minor injuries in the incident while a home guard who was driving the police jeep received a serious head injury. The other policemen who had gone to the village were also injured.
The villagers damaged the police jeep and also stopped mediapersons from covering the incident, police said.

The villagers also kept the mediapersons confined in the village for some time before releasing them.
Meanwhile, the injured personnel have been shifted to an Ongole hospital for treatment, police said.