HYDERABAD: THE Hyderabad High Court came down heavily on Telangana government for over the “abrupt detention” of Congress leader A Revanth Reddy. It expressed displeasure over the government’s failure to produce records showing reasons for his detention and the intelligence report based on which the police acted upon.
“This is not the right way to catch a dissenting voice. In a democracy, every citizen has a right to express dissent and the police have their own ways to control law and order... Merely apprehending that he will obstruct TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao’s meeting by picking up the petitioner (Revanth) at midnight amounts to highhandedness of the police. The petitioner’s detention is illegal,” the court observed.
The court has asked the government to produce the case record before it by Wednesday morning. The bench comprising Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice M Satyanarayana Murthy was dealing with the habeas corpus petition moved in the form of lunch motion by V Narender Reddy with a plea to produce Revanth before the court and seeking payment of Rs 20 lakh as compensation.
When the special counsel for the government, Sharat Kumar, submitted that action against Revanth was based on the directions of the State Chief Electoral Officer, the bench intervened and asked: “Why would you detain a person illegally citing the directions of Election Commission.”The bench asked, in reply to the A-G’s submissions, whether the State police were incapable of maintaining law & order.The court has asked for all relevant documents regarding the arrest to be produced before it by Wednesday morning.