SC pulls up state on vandalism at Andhra HC
NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday chastised the state government for failing to rein in the Telangana agitators, who it said had indulged in “sheer goondaism and vandalism” in the High Court premises during their September 2010 stir for a separate state.
A bench of justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhyaya directed the state’s police chief and home secretary to file affidavits detailing the preventive measures and subsequent actions taken to curb violence in the high court premises. The bench also asked Indian Railways to file its reply, detailing its loss during the stir.
The bench gave the orders while hearing advocate P V Krishnaiah’s plea for actions against perpetrators of the violence and compensation for those killed and wounded in the stir for Telangana.
The petitioner had contended that normal activities in the state, including those in courts were paralysed during the stir with the agitating people hurling missiles at judges in court rooms and prevented them from functioning.
“What are you doing? What have you been doing all these times? ... . The state is watching like a silent spectator,” the bench told counsel Nageshwar Reddy, who appeared for AP.