Bandi Bhageerath POCSO case: Why netizens lashed out at Bandi Sanjay over son's 'voluntary surrender'

In a day of dramatic developments, Bandi Bhageerath, the son of Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Minister of State for Home Affairs, was taken into police custody in Hyderabad.

While the police said they arrested him at the APPA Junction at around 8 PM, Bandi Sanjay countered their statement by releasing photos and a video he called a "voluntary surrender" of his son at the Petbasheerabad Police Station, where the POCSO case against him was filed.

However, the minister's move backfired spectacularly, triggering massive online backlash, rather than generating any sympathy. The BJP minister's decision to surrender his son eight days after the POCSO case was filed set off a firestorm on social media.

In the comment section of his post on X, people expressed outrage, with several pointing out that the "surrender" implied that the minister had known his son's whereabouts throughout.

"So, the moment the court denied anticipatory bail, he suddenly surrendered after 8 days? Wow. Does that mean his whereabouts were known all along, yet Telangana Police were kept in the dark while publicly claiming they couldn't trace him? If true, what does this say about law and order? Absolute mockery," a user wrote.

Others questioned his grandstanding—if his son was voluntarily walking into a police station in the pursuit of justice, they questioned why the minister invoked God's name in a criminal case, and why he was framing compliance with the law as an act of virtue.

Many believe that his stand on his son’s case has damaged the party’s reputation in the state.

"You drowned in the mire, You sank @BJP4Telangana. Your self-made swamp. The damage that's happened in these 8 days isn't just a little—it's the whole party. The party sank because of your son's mistake. When her parents came to your house, why did you humiliate them? You should have beaten up your son and made him touch their feet," another frustrated netizen wrote.

His invocation of the maxim Satyameva Jayate also drew sharp criticism.

"Where was he hiding for 9 days? When police were searching for him, he was hiding. If he surrendered before police started searching for him, then your satyameva jayate had credibility and bhaggi bro got some sympathy," questioned a third X user.

The timing of the arrest also drew scrutiny. Many pointed out that the "surrender" came only after all the legal options—including anticipatory bail—had been exhausted.

A user even asked why there was any need for drama at all if the son had done nothing wrong. The decision to broadcast the entire episode on social media was itself widely mocked, with many responding with sarcasm and memes.

The episode also reignites a broader debate about two systems of justice in India—one for the powerful, another for the rest.

A journalist pointed out that no ordinary person would have been given eight days' notice before custody, and questioned whether the police and courts would have shown the same latitude with a common man.

The slow handling of the case by the Telangana Police has also created visible discomfort within the state. The Telangana Police and the Congress government were heavily criticised for failing to take Bhageerath into custody.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, however, backed the measured approach as a deliberate strategy to avoid accusations of vendetta politics.

The irony was not lost on observers: a state that prides itself on high POCSO conviction rates had, in this instance, appeared to drag its feet—and the optics were damaging, regardless of the explanation.