Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday, September 8, reserved its order in an interim application filed by the state seeking vacation of its earlier order directing the DGP to take action against police officers involved in the alleged manhandling of BRS legislators.
During the hearing, Justice T Madhavi Devi expressed concern over allegations that a woman legislator’s saree was pulled and another was held by the neck as police tried to stop them from entering the Assembly premises.
“Is this the respect you show to women? Especially women legislators?” the judge said, noting that the BRS women leaders were allegedly manhandled despite being dressed in simple black sarees and not wearing any T-shirts that displayed slogans or carrying placards.
On Monday, the court had ordered Telangana Director General of Police (DGP) CV Anand not to restrain Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs from entering the Assembly and to identify and take action against the officers involved in the manhandling incident.
Advocate General A Sudharshan Reddy, seeking vacation of the order, argued that such observations could impact the discharge of police duties. He submitted that the police had acted on directions from the DGP, who had received instructions from the Speaker’s office.
The judge, however, sought to know when the police had received directions from the Speaker’s office and whether it was before or after the manhandling incident.
The Advocate General said BRS legislators violated the Assembly guidelines by wearing T-shirts with messages against the government and raising slogans. He said that even though the legislators had been issued vehicle-entry passes, they arrived in groups, raising slogans instead of using the designated entry arrangements.
Senior counsel Gandra Mohan Rao, appearing for petitioner BRS MLA Talasani Srinivas Yadav, disputed the state’s version and questioned the timing of the Assembly authorities’ communication to the police.
He submitted that a legislator wearing a black T-shirt with slogans had been stopped from entering the Assembly at around 9:30 am and alleged that the communication from the Assembly authorities was created after the court’s intervention during the lunch-motion hearing.
Mohan Rao further stated that only the Speaker and the Assembly marshals had the authority to enforce rules regarding legislators’ conduct within the premises. Allowing the police to determine if guidelines had been flouted would undermine legislative independence, he said.
He also pointed out that the state’s affidavit did not refer to the alleged written communication from the Assembly authorities that had been produced before the court.
He further stated that the Assembly bulletin only prohibits shouting slogans, distributing pamphlets or displaying material unrelated to official Assembly business.
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