The Andhra Pradesh High Court turned its ire on the state police over the illegal arrest of an advocate.
Hearing a Habeas Corpus petition filed by the wife of High Court advocate Subhash Chandra Bose who was arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police, the HC expressed deep anguish over the high-handedness of the cops. The court observed that if a senior advocate was arrested and ill-treated by the police, it is difficult to even imagine the plight of the common man. “It is not just about a lawyer. It’s about the common man on the street,” the court observed.
The illegal arrests by the police are continuing in Andhra Pradesh despite assurances made by state DGP Gautam Sawang to the court that such arrests will not reoccur, the HC observed.
Earlier, the High Court had summoned Gautam Sawang to appear in the court in February 2020 in connection with a Habeas Corpus petition filed against the police for illegally arresting two people – Reddi Gowtham and his wife Y Lochini from north Andhra in October. The police had failed to produce the duo before the court. After examining the Habeas Corpus petition, the HC had ordered a judicial inquiry and a senior civil judge of Vizag city was appointed to conduct an inquiry into the petition.
In the Habeas Corpus petition filed by the wife of High Court advocate Subhash Chandra Bose, the petitioner argued that her husband was illegally detained by the Prathipadu police, Yeleshwaram village in the East Godavari district without following due procedures. The petitioner contended that her husband was arrested in the middle of the night by breaking open the doors of their residence. She stated that Prathipadu CI, Yeleshwaram SIs and constables bared into their residence on Sunday midnight and illegally detained him.
She also informed the court that the police did not inform why her husband was being arrested or where he was being taken. In the petition, she also mentioned that her father–in-law worked as Yeleshwaram municipal chairman.
She also stated that her husband has political differences with the ruling dispensation and that her husband was threatened on several occasions by the ruling party leaders. In this context, her husband also filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission. In the petition, she appealed to the court to give orders to the police to produce her husband before it.
A two-bench of the High Court headed by Justices Rakesh Kumar and Suresh Reddy on Tuesday ordered the East Godavari Superintendent of Police to produce the arrested advocate, Subhash Chandra Bose, before it on July 27. Further, the HC directed the Andhra Pradesh police to submit a detailed report on why it had to swoop down on the residence of Subhash Chandra Bose to conduct the midnight arrest. The court also questioned why Andhra Pradesh had failed to follow due procedures in arresting the advocate.
