HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Monday modified its interim order concerning the alleged obstruction and manhandling of BRS legislators while they were entering the Legislative Assembly on September 7, directing the Director General of Police (DGP) to identify police personnel who allegedly misbehaved with or manhandled women legislators and place the details before the Speaker for appropriate action.
Justice T Madhavi Devi was dealing with an application filed by the state seeking vacation of the September 7 interim order in a writ petition. The state contended that the writ petition filed by the BRS Legislative Party was not maintainable and that police had acted pursuant to directions issued by the Speaker and the Chief Marshal to maintain order within the Assembly precincts.
The Advocate General argued that BRS MLAs had violated the Speaker’s directions by wearing black T-shirts bearing political slogans and attempting to force their way through the security cordon. The state also relied on a prohibitory notification issued by the Hyderabad Police Commissioner and an FIR registered in connection with the incident.
The court observed that the issue of maintainability required detailed consideration and could be decided at the final hearing. It also noted that the alleged incident occurred at the Assembly entry gate and that it would have to be determined whether the legislators were obstructed before entering the precincts or after entering them. The court further noted that the FIR did not refer to any violation of the September 5 prohibitory order.
While declining to interfere with the direction that violations of Assembly rules should be dealt with by the Speaker, the court modified the direction concerning police action. The DGP was directed to identify officials who misbehaved with or manhandled women legislators and furnish the details to the Speaker. If the alleged incident occurred outside the Assembly precincts, at the entry point, the DGP was directed to report the matter to the court.