HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Thursday stayed the operation of the order issued by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Wardhannapet Division, Warangal Commissionerate on August 23, 2022, restraining BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar from taking out Praja Sangrama Yatra. Justice T Vinod Kumar said in his ruling: “The impugned procedures appear to be in breach of the requirements of the Warangal Police Act 2015 and of Article 19 (1) of the Indian Constitution.”
The judge refused to take on record the pen drive and extracts submitted by State Advocate General BS Prasad, which contained the provocative speeches delivered by Sanjay Kumar, on the grounds that an affidavit must be filed in support of such material placed before the court under Section 65(B) of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. During the proceedings, Justice Vinod Kumar questioned the Advocate General about why the police did not prevent Sanjay Kumar from starting his Yatra and why they stopped it later.
The judge rejected the AG’s claim that Sanjay Kumar was ordered to stop the Praja Sangrama Yatra because of recent law and order problems in Hyderabad and questioned why he needs to stop the yatra when no other meetings or gatherings were prohibited.
Although the ACP has the authority under the Warangal Police Act to issue a notice to Sanjay Kumar, ordering him to refrain from undertaking the yatra, such a notice cannot be exercised for a period exceeding one week and if it exceeds, a notice should be published in the Gazette under Section 2(b) of the Act, 2015, and the notice is illegal in the absence of such a gazette notification, according to the judge.
According to J Prabhakar, Senior Counsel for the petitioner, all the accusations made against Sanjay Kumar are untrue and politically motivated, and the Assistant Commissioner of Police’s notice was blatantly in breach of the guidelines outlined in the Warangal Police Act.
The Assistant Commissioner of Police’s decision to issue the notice to Sanjay Kumar on the grounds that the law and order situation in Hyderabad for the previous two days was not good and that the same environment may seep into the yatra was justified, according to Advocate General BS Prasad.
‘Every accusation untrue’
J Prabhakar, Senior Counsel for the petitioner, said all the accusations made against Sanjay Kumar are untrue and politically motivated