Vijayawada: The High Court here has pulled up the AP Police department for illegal custody of the accused in various cases and directed the state government to avoid recurrence of situations in future, with a caution that it would use its discretionary powers if the things remain unchanged.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice A.K. Goswami and Justice J. Umadevi heard a writ petition for habeas corpus on Friday, alleging illegal custody of two accused in a crime. The court said that following hearing of several such petitions, it was of the impression that all was not well in the police stations.
The court said it would not tolerate such things any longer and asked Advocate General S. Sriram to suggest to the top brass of the police to avoid illegal custody of the accused in police stations in future. The court stressed that every action of the police force should be performed in accordance with the law.
Shaik Akhtar Roshan hailing from Thokalavanipalem of Guntur district filed a petition alleging that her husband Kanchana Naveen Babu and another person Vasumilli Ashok were detained by the Kothapeta police in East Godavari on August 30 and that the cops used third degree methods (torture). She pleaded with the court to issue an order to the cops to produce the two before the court.
