Court dismisses plea by Varavara Rao

By S A Ishaqui
Hyderabad, March 19 : A division bench comprising Chief Justice A.R, Dave and Justice R. Subhash Reddy of the AP High Court on Wednesday dismissed a writ petition filed by revolutionary writer P. Varavara Rao with regard to Tuesday’s encounter in Chhattisgarh.
Mr Varavara Rao had moved a lunch motion in the court and urged that the court direct the police to preserve the bodies of the Maoists killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh.
While dealing with the petition, the Chief Justice observed that the court cannot grant any interim direction on the petition, since the incident took place in Chhattisgarh, it was out of the jurisdiction of the court.
Mr V Raghunath, counsel for the petitioner told the court that on earlier occasions also, the Advocate General had assured for shifting of bodies from the place of encounter to their native villages without the interference of police for conduct of funeral.
He stressed that the court make an observation that police should allow the families of deceased to perform the last rites in their respective villages.
Justice R Subhash Reddy asked Mr Raghunath, what was his apprehension. He replied that police may not allow the families to take the bodies and not even allow identification process.
The petitioner asked the court to direct the police to register a case under Section 302 of IPC against the police officers who participated in the encounter.