VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court criticised the Vijayawada Cybercrime Police for violating procedure by failing to produce an accused before a magistrate within 24 hours of arrest in a case involving obscene posts on social media.
A division bench of Justice R Raghunandan Rao and Justice TCD Sekhar, which delivered the order on Monday, said the delay amounted to a breach of the accused’s fundamental rights. The court ruled that the accused, Tirupati Lokesh, was entitled to compensation in line with Supreme Court directions.
The bench directed the Station House Officer (SHO) of Vijayawada Cybercrime Police Station to pay Rs 10,000 to Lokesh and submit the payment receipt to the Registrar (Judicial). The Registry was told to place a compliance report before the court on December 15.
The judgment followed a habeas corpus petition filed by Lokesh’s mother, Tirupati Bharathii of Visakhapatnam, who alleged that her son had been illegally detained by police. The petition was filed in November last year.