HC injuncts Telangana police from arresting Veekshanam editor

Hyderabad: Justice K. Surender of Telangana High Court injuncted the state police from arresting N. Venu Gopal, the editor of Veekshanam journal. The judge issued the order directing the LB Nagar police not to arrest him in connection with a criminal case that alleges his links with the banned CPI (Maoist) party. T The judge was dealing with a quash petition filed by the petitioner challenging his implication in a crime registered in 2019 for offences under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Telangana Public Security Act. Allegations levelled included that the petitioner and other accused developed contacts with several underground Maoist leaders, arrested and surrendered cadres throughout the country to unite all the frontal organizations, activists to wage war against and dethrone the state. Senior Counsel V. Raghunath appearing for the petitioner argued that the petitioner was a reputed journalist and took active role in the Telangana statehood movement. Contentions are raised that the democratic voices are curtailed by false implication in the criminal cases. He argued that petitioner was implicated solely based on retracted confession statement without their being any corroborating material or evidence. It was also contended that that the petitioner was journalist for over 20 years and emphasized his contribution to the field of journalism and literature. Even he has come out of the ‘Virasam’ revolutionary writers' organization a decade ago, said Senior Counsel Raghunath. It was also brought to the notice of the judge that the petitioner was nominated as the member of the Governing Council of the Telangana Press Academy and that Veekshanam magazine is supported by advertisements from government agencies. There was no material to say that petitioner was in contact with the Maoist party or has any role in planning to wage a war against state. It was argued that all the allegations are baseless. During the hearing, Justice Surender sought details from the Public Prosecutor regarding the status of the investigation and the material collected so far. However, the response was deemed unsatisfactory. The judge initially considered directing the police to place the entire investigation material before the court but later suggested that the investigation may continue while protecting the petitioner from arrest. With these observations, the judge granted interim relief to the petitioner, restraining the police from taking coercive steps. The quash petition remains pending for further hearing