New Delhi [India], May 2 (ANI): BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Saturday invoked the legacy of the Emergency, calling it a 'dark chapter' in India's democratic history, as he recounted the arrest and custodial suffering of noted actress and activist Snehalatha Reddy.

Marking the anniversary of her arrest, Dubey said the Emergency represented the 'story of the torture of thousands of people.'

In a post on X, Dubey wrote, 'The Dark Chapter of Congress. 47. On May 2, 1976, on this very day during the Emergency, Indira Gandhi arrested the renowned South Indian film actress and social worker Snehala Reddy in South India; her only crime was her familial connection to the great leader George Fernandes. The police subjected her daughter Nandana, her son Konark, and her husband Pattabhi to horrific tortures. Even that did not satisfy them, so they arrested her 84-year-old father as well. In jail, she was stripped naked and beaten, and for 260 days in a cramped cell, Snehala ji writhed amid her own filth and excrement. On January 15, 1977, she was released on parole in a near-death condition, but on January 20, 1977, she became a martyr. The Emergency is the story of the torture of thousands of people; my family is one of those who endured 19 months in jail.'

https://x.com/nishikant_dubey/status/2050390294131253691

Snehalatha Reddy, born in 1932, was a noted figure in Kannada and Telugu cinema and theatre. She was the co-founder of the Madras Players and gained national recognition for her role in the Kannada film Samskara, which won the National Award in 1970.

She was arrested under the stringent Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) in connection with the Baroda dynamite case, though her name did not appear in the final charge sheet.

Reddy spent over eight months in Bengaluru Central Jail without trial under harsh conditions. She was released on parole in January 1977 in a critical state and died five days later on January 20. (ANI)