Andhra Pradesh High Court Rebukes Police Over CrPC 41-A Compliance

A single judge bench of T. Mallikharjuna Rao held a hearing on an anticipatory bail plea of Telugu Desam MLA (Parchur) Yeluri Sambasiva Rao here on Monday over a case booked against him by the Marturu police.

The case related to a complaint lodged by mining department assistant director Balaji Naik, alleging that he obstructed mining officials from discharging their duties during an inspection of granite factories.

Petitioner’s counsel Posani Venkateswarlu appealed to the court to issue a direction to the police to comply with the norms of section 41-A of CrPC.

He argued that though the sections booked against the legislator would lead to punishment of less than seven years and the legislator was supposed to attend the assembly session, the police were trying to arrest him.

The court called for issue of a direction to the police to serve notice under section 41-1 of CrPC to the MPs and MLAs, and expressed wonder by saying that, “If the MPs and MLAs were fearful of their arrest by the police even when cases were booked under such a section, one could comprehend the fate of commoners.”

The court asked how the police could make an arrest in such a case and warned the cops, “Let the police arrest the legislator,” so that the court could punish the concerned police officer.

The assistant public prosecutor sought time to submit more details in the case. The court adjourned the case for next hearing to Tuesday.