Telangana HC Expresses surprise over use of lathies to Check the presence of COVID-19.
The Court directs the police to submit the injury reports of the injured persons, their statements, if any recorded by the Police,
(Judicial Quest News Network)
The Telangana High Court on Wednesday expressed surprise over the submissions made by the State Police to justify their use of lathis(batons) while checking the vehicles to “see whether coronavirus was present or not/
The Court was hearing a PIL moved raising grievance over the police excesses committed under the guise of monitoring the compliance of restrictions in place to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The petition is filed by Smt. Sheela Sarah Mathews, Managing Trustee of Sankalp Women’s Support Alliance which supports survivors of sexual assault and rape victims. Apart from working on such cases, she also conducts training on the Prevention of Sexual Prevention at Workplace and legal recourse in cases of rape for organisations, NGOs etc.
Observing that the counter affidavit filed by the police on “Police excesses during lockdown” lacked complete details, the Telangana High Court said the police needed to apply mind and file all relevant documents before it.
The court while perusing a counter-affidavit filed by Anjani Kumar IPS,
It was surprising that police that they used “batons to check vehicles for the presence of Coronavirus.
The bench of Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and B Vijaysen Reddy responded
“This explanation by the police is, indeed, surprising. For, in Order to check the presence of Coronavirus, there is no need to use the lathies. Therefore, the complete report with regard to the alleged incident needs to be submitted by the police before this court.
While denying claims about that police had assaulted certain people it was submitted in the counter affidavit that in fact, was not assaulted by the Police. According to the Police, instead he fell down while he was running away after noticing the police personnel approaching his area. But – surprisingly, his injury report has not been submitted along with the counter-affidavit.
On this the Court said that the injury reports and Medical reports to substantiate these police claims were absent.
Further it was alleged that in one case that police had injured a handicapped person.
“Yet, the Police claims that he is a regular violator of the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act and as many as thirteen Traffic Challans are hanging against him. Yet, none of these Traffic Challans have been submitted along with the counter-affidavit.
The Court has also asked the Respondents (Telangana Police) to submit departmental actions against the delinquent police officers,.
Further it is submitted that in another case, a man was stated to have received 35 stitches on his face after an altercation with the police for having driven on a two-wheeler without a helmet or a facemask.
The Court has asked Telangana Police to Submit the following reports.
- The Injury reports of the injured persons and their statements, if any recorded by the police
- The progress made in the departmental enquiries, which have been initiated against the delinquent police personnel.
The court has asked to submit the report by June 29. The matters will be taken up next on June 30.
[Read Order]
