VIJAYAWADA: The High Court on Thursday came down heavily on Visakhapatnam police for interfering in civil disputes and directed them to stop it immediately.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Lisa Gill and Justice Challa Gunaranjan was hearing a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) taken up after petitions alleged harassment by Visakhapatnam police. During the hearing, the bench questioned why the police were intervening in civil matters, stating clearly that they have no role in such disputes.
It directed the State to immediately halt the practice of police meddling in civil cases in the name of the ‘Pre-Litigation Counseling Forum’ (PLCF) set up in Visakhapatnam.
The court also ordered the State government to file a detailed counter with full particulars on the forum.
The issue came to light after film producer Natti Kumar and businessman Manchikonda Ramakrishna filed separate petitions last month in the High Court. They alleged that Visakhapatnam police, under the PLCF, were summoning them to police stations daily and harassing them over civil disputes pending in courts.
Justice A Hari Haranath Sharma, who heard the two cases earlier, noted that police were pushing parties to settle civil disputes through the forum. Taking note of the submissions, the Chief Justice directed the registry to place all case records before her to examine the scope, legality, powers and limits of the forum.
The registry was then asked to convert it into a suo motu writ petition. Special Public Prosecutor Singamaneni Pranathi told the bench that a system exists to forward public grievances to higher officials and that circulars had earlier been issued directing police not to interfere in civil matters. She sought time to submit details on the PLCF.
