Court favours arrest of inciters

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad, Aug 3:The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday observed that political parties should be held accountable for violence during agitations such as dharnas and bandhs.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy said this while hearing arguments on a writ petition filed by Telugu Desam secretary P.N.V. Prasad on Mudigonda police firing.

The division bench also remarked that political leaders who instigated agitators should be arrested. Advocate-General C.V. Mohan Reddy informed the court that the State government had asked a commission headed by Justice I. Panduranaga Rao to probe the firing incident and submitted a copy of its terms of reference.

However, the petitioner’s counsel S. Ramachandra Rao said that Justice Panduranga Rao was a “courtesan judge,” and was heading around nine judicial commissions till date. This evoked a sharp reaction from the Chief Justice who asked the counsel not to make adverse comments since Justice Panduranga Rao was not a party to the case.

The Chief Justice went on to ask the AG how many commissions he was heading. However, the AG said he did not know the exact number. He also asked the AG why the police did not use rubber bullets in Mudigonda and sought to know whether the district collector and the superintendent of police visited the firing spot soon after the incident.

Mr Reddy said he had to ascertain whether rubber bullets were available with the police and added that the additional SP was present at the time of the incident. The AG argued that the petition was politically motivated and urged the court to dismiss it. However, the Chief Justice said the petition was maintainable.