Punish errant cops, Telangana HC tells police brass

HYDERABAD: The Telangana high court on Wednesday directed the top police brass to mete out harsh punishment to errant cops in Miryalaguda for crossing their limits while discharging their duties at a checkpost.
In a strong message to the government and the police authorities for shielding errant cops, a bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy said: “Mere censuring is of no use.Cut two increments with cumulative effect. The wrong-doers will understand the gravity of their actions. This will serve as a deterrent for other cops.”
Hearing a petition of Osmania University law student Baglekar Akash Kumar, the judges said the authorities were only breeding indiscipline in a disciplined department like police by shielding the errant cops. The petitioner brought to the notice of the court on how the Miryalaguda cops brought five accused in petty offences to Vadapalli checkpost on AP-Telangana border and made them set up and remove barricades under the hot sun. “This exercise went on for more than a month,” Akash said.
“The five youths were brought to the police station and later sent to the checkpost to do the labour job. It was only after filing of the PIL, that the police have stopped sending them there,” he said. He further said: “This is a gross violation of fundamental rights as guaranteed by the Constitution.”
The judges earlier directed the government to record the statements of the youths and furnish them to the court. Police recorded their statements and sent them to the high court. The bench, however, rejected these statements on the grounds that they were “tutored and parrot-like.”
The bench said all the statements were seemingly filled and signed by cops themselves. “Only the names were changed but the language remained the same in all the statements,” it said.
Expressing serious doubts on the authenticity of the statements, the bench said the police authorities should punish the errant cops stringently so that others in the department would not nurture similar ideas of enforcing law.
At this, advocate general BS Prasad assured the court that he would prevail over the top cops to sensitise the police force and urged the court to close the current case. Akash opposed this and urged the court to set up an inquiry commission.
The judges asked him to file a rejoinder to the state affidavit and posted the case to three weeks.