Police officers' move on Million March mob justified

Hyderabad: A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar of the Hyderabad High Court, has held former DGP K. Aravinda Rao, former city police commissioner A.K. Khan and other police officers not guilty under the Contempt of Courts Act.

The Bench dismissed a contempt case moved by Telangana Advocates Joint Action Committee leader T. Sri Ranga Rao and others, against former the DGP, former city police commissioner, former DCP of Central Zone Akun Sabarwal, former ACP of Chikkadpally K. Chakrapani and Gandhinagar police Inspector S. Sudhakar.

The petitioners contended that the respondent officers were guilty of gross contempt of the order of the Supreme Court in the D.K. Basu versus the state of West Bengal case and urged the court that they be punished under Article 215 of the Constitution and the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.

The petitioners submitted that the police arrested them while they were participating in the Million March organised on March 10, 2011, in Hyderabad and at the time of their arrest, none of the police officers were wearing name tags and that some of them were in mufti.

They alleged that no arrest memo was prepared and no one was informed of their arrest and their arrest was never recorded on that day and that they were interrogated in Gandhinagar police station.

The petitioners said that they were not given any food or water during the night and they were made to sit on the dirty floor along with others throughout the night.

They said the DGP issued a fax message on February 21, 2011, to all police officers in the state to file FIRs against all the leaders who were supporting the agitation for a separate Telangana.

Police defended their action stating a group of 2,500 to 3,000 people, including the petitioners, had entered the stretch of the upper Tank Bund road from Ambedkar statue side breaking the police cordon, while the other group of 2,500 to 3,000 persons entered the road from the Viceroy Hotel side. They then damaged Telugu heritage idols.

Delivering the verdict, Justice Sanjay Kumar said that though various allegations have been made by the petitioners charging the respondent police officers with responsibility for alleged disobedience to the order of the Supreme Court in the D.K. Basu case, this Court finds no evidence to support their allegation that the named respondents were guilty of any specific violation of the directives of the Supreme Court.

The judge ruled that “this Court therefore finds that the ingredients of ‘civil contempt’ as defined by Section 2(b) of the Act of 1971 are not established as against any of the named respondents.”