This story is from December 3, 2019

HC saves Karimnagar police commissioner from going to jail

Wondering why a police officer would discharge his duty with personal animosity, the Telangana high court has stayed the 6-month jail term slapped on Karimnagar police commissioner V B Kamalasan Reddy and two of his colleagues in a contempt case.
HC saves Karimnagar police commissioner from going to jail
Representative Image
HYDERABAD: Wondering why a police officer would discharge his duty with personal animosity, the Telangana high court has stayed the 6-month jail term slapped on Karimnagar police commissioner V B Kamalasan Reddy and two of his colleagues in a contempt case.
The case pertains to an alleged unlawful police raid on a Karimnagar resort where playing Rummy was allowed. According to police, it is a game of chance and hence allowing it is a crime.
The Resort management says it is a game of skill and therefore is not a crime when played without any stakes.
A single judge earlier sentenced Kamalasan Reddy, his ACP and SHO at Karimnagar to six months jail and imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 on them for repeatedly raiding the resort, Pushpanjali resort, at Karimnagar. What irked the single judge was the fact that the raids went on even after a restraint order from the court. He convicted them in a contempt case.
The aggrieved police officials filed an appeal against the order. The resort owner complained and the single judge also noted in his order that the police had purposefully planted money at the resort to implicate the resort owner in a criminal case. Advocate General BS Prasad urged the court to stay the single judge order.
Chief Justice while issuing an interim order staying the sentence said that the single judge drew quick inferences without any judicial finding on the issue of planting money. The trial court should issue such a finding. Only then one can draw the inference that the police had planted the money. The high court cannot look into and adjudicate disputed questions of facts, the CJ said.
Ravi Kiran Rao, the counsel for the resort management argued that the police had acted in a high handed manner and even resorted to needless arrests in the case. We have produced before the single judge several documentary evidence showing how the police destroyed the CCTV equipment etc at the resort, he explained. The bench sought to know from him why would the police act without any reason. What personal animosity do they have against a resort owner, the CJ asked. Even documentary evidence has to be verified as per the provisions of the Evidence Act. The contents in them have to be proved for anyone to act on them, he said. However, the CJ said, we are not closing the case. We are merely admitting the case, he added.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA