The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday pulled up state Director General of Police (DGP) Damodar Gautam Sawang over the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N Chandrababu Naidu's detention at the Visakhapatnam airport on February 27 after taking him into preventive custody. A Division Bench, headed by Chief Justice J K Maheshwari, made the DGP read out Section 151 of the Criminal Procedural Code (CrPC) and questioned Sawang why he did not take disciplinary action against his subordinate officers.
The DGP appeared in person on the summons of the court for hearing a petition filed by former MLA T Sravan Kumar challenging the illegal detention of the TDP chief in the airport when he went to attend a series of programmes in the district. "Read out Section 151 CrPC. Why did you not take any action against the Visakhapatnam police officials," the court asked the DGP.
It also questioned if he supported his subordinate officers when they violated the law. The DGP replied that he did not take any action as the issue was pending in court.
"If the court orders, we will take necessary action," Sawang replied. If you dont take action which you are supposed to, we will take action, the court warned.
The court then directed the DGP to submit a report on the action taken against the errant officers. The DGP also faced the court's wrath in another case relating to the police action against protestors in capital Amaravati.
The High Court, which on its own took cognizance of imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC and the conduct of a 'long march' by over 500 police personnel in a village, asked the DGP what was the need for such an action when protests were being carried out in a peaceful manner. Why were so many police deployed in one village? What is the need? Why such acts in a democracy, the court questioned.
The court was not satisfied with the DGPs reply that everything was part of precautionary measures. "Precautionary measures should be in tune with the law. Where is the need for such measures in villages where people are protesting in a peaceful manner," the court asked.
The court asked the DGP to explain the action taken against police officials concerned over this.