Why is Cong leaders’ arrest not recorded, HC asks cops

Wondering why the arrests of state Congress leaders when they were proceeding to irrigation project sites was not recorded by the police, the Telangana High Court directed the government to submit its contention on a petition filed by Congress leaders.

Justice T. Vinod Kumar was dealing the petition filed by the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC), represented by its president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and senior leaders V. Hanumantha Rao, Ponnala Laxmaiah, Revanth Reddy, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Shabbir Ali and others.

The Congress leaders referred to a series of instances to substantiate their point, including unreasonable detention, and placing them under arrest and preventive detention in their houses on the day they were to head for an inspection of irrigation projects, despite a prior notice to the government.

B. Rachana Reddy, counsel for Congress leaders, submitted that without giving an opportunity and notice, they were placed under arrest and these were not recorded.

Counsel submitted that these were violations of Article 14, 19 and other laws.

Advocate-General B.S Prasad submitted that the Congress leaders had violated the Epidemic Disaster Management Act, and had tried to gather people which was restricted by the Union health ministry.

Eventually, the judge asked the government why the arrests had not been recorded.

The court appreciated the work of Mulugu MLA Seethakka, who travelled through forests and carried essentials to distribute to the tribals during the lockdown.