VIJAYAWADA: Taking a serious view of the assault of a police inspector in Hindupur on the advocate commissioner and court staff appointed for fact-finding with regard to the illegal detention of a person, the Andhra Pradesh High Court has registered a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) on the issue, based on a report submitted by Anantapur judge.
A division bench, headed by Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, will hear the petition on Monday. The Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary (Home), DGP, Anantapur Range DIG, district SP and inspector Ismail were made respondents in the case.
Following a petition that Devangam Gireesh was illegally detained by Hindupur police, the Principal Junior Civil Judge Court appointed Udayasimha Reddy as advocate commissioner and asked him to visit Hindupur police station and find out if Gireesh was illegally detained or not. In case, he was there, the advocate commissioner was asked to bring him out.
On October 21, 2022 Udayasimha Reddy, along with court staff, Gireesh’s advocate and family members visited Hindupur One Town police station. He found that Gireesh was illegally detained and trashed by police. Stating that Gireesh was in need of immediate medical treatment, he asked the police to send Gireesh with him.
However, inspector Ismail not only refused to let Gireesh free, but also manhandled the advocate commissioner and others who went to the police station. Having learnt about it, the Principal Junior Civil Judge sought an explanation from the inspector. However, no satisfactory reply was given.
The Principal Junior Civil Judge took the issue to the notice of the DIG, the district judge and the High Court in the form of a report. Justice Battu Devanand, who was administrative judge of Anantapur at that time, directed the High Court Registry to seek an explanation from the DGP on the issue.
Justice Devanand said the incident was of serious nature and the prestige of the judiciary is linked to it. He directed the Registry to take the report by the Principal Judge as PIL suo motu and place it before the High Court Chief Justice for further instructions. Meanwhile, the DGP, in his response, stated that the police official involved in the incident was punished and his increments were stopped for two years.On the other hand, the Chief Justice, considering the Principal Junior Civil Judge’s report, directed the Registry to list it as suo motu PIL. It will come up for hearing on Monday.