Rail Roko Protest: HC Stays Further Criminal Proceedings against KCR

 Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday stayed further criminal proceedings against former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao in a case registered against him during the period of agitation for a separate Telangana State in 2011. The crime was registered against Rao for calling for the ‘rail roko’ program in support of the agitation and on his call, several protestors obstructed movement of trains.

As the criminal proceedings were pending before the trial court and summons were issued to him to appear in the case, Rao approached the High Court to quash the charges against him. He stated that he had not participated in the said ‘rail roko’ program.

Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana High Court heard the petition on Tuesday and stayed proceedings till further orders and posted the criminal petition seeking to quash all proceedings in crime to July 23 for further hearing. Meanwhile, the court issued notices to the state government and the police to file their contentions on Rao’s petition.