Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has issued notices to the Home Department, the Director General of Police (DGP), the Hyderabad Commissioner of Police, and the Detective Inspector of Police in Borabanda regarding the alleged misconduct of the Borabanda Police towards an advocate.
This action was taken by a division bench led by Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao, following a suo moto Public Interest Litigation (PIL) based on a representation from the Bar Association of Kukatpally Courts and a news report published on August 20 that detailed the incident involving the advocate.
On August 16 at around 6:30 am, Sub-Inspector Sardar Jamal and several police constables conducted a raid on a house in Banjara Nagar following a complaint against the homeowner. Advocate P Santosh, who was a tenant there, was reportedly assaulted by the police despite not being involved in the complaint against his landlord.
The representation indicated that the police forcibly entered Santosh’s rented space, verbally abused him and his wife, and, despite his objections, dragged him out of the house at night while he was inappropriately dressed.
CCTV footage captured the incident, showing the police mistreating both Santosh and his wife. Furthermore, the complaint detailed how Santosh was subjected to both physical and verbal abuse at the police station, and it was noted that a senior colleague eventually intervened to secure his release.
He was later advised to seek immediate medical attention at Gandhi Hospital.
Recognizing the seriousness of the alleged incident, the division bench of the Telangana High Court has taken up the matter as a suo moto PIL.
The court has directed the State government to inform the court about the feasibility of enacting an Advocates Protection Act.
