HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday directed the Andhra Pradesh government to file counter affidavit regarding the issue of jurisdiction of this high court to adjudicate the PIL case filed regarding the ‘encounter’ that took place on Andhra Odisha Border (AOB) on Monday. About 28 Maoists were killed in the incident.
The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice A Shankar Narayana was dealing with a PIL case filed by Chiluka Chandrasekhar of the Civil Liberties Committee of Guntur district of AP seeking directions to the government to preserve the bodies of the Maoists killed during the joint operation by AP and Odisha police.
When the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, AP advocate general Dammalapati Srinivas told the bench that the ‘encounter’ took place in Odisha state. The question of preserving the bodies does not arise as no bodies were brought to AP, he added.
On the other hand, petitioner’s counsel V Raghunath said that the DGP of AP had claimed that the Greyhounds personnel of the state participated in the encounter and it is violative of the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code.
This High Court has got the jurisdiction to hear the case, he noted.
The bench then directed the AP government to file an affidavit on the encounter episode and explaining its stand on the territorial jurisdiction.
While adjourning the case to next week, the bench said that the issue of cause of action would also give the power to the court to adjudicate the matter.