The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday refused to grant any more time to the Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police to file an affidavit explaining to the court the practice of parading an accused suspect during press conferences.
The court observed on Tuesday that the police have been treating accused suspects in their custody like ‘animals’ by allowing them to be paraded, a report in Deccan Chronicle states.
The DGP had sought two weeks’ time from the court after they questioned the practice of parading accused persons before the media. The court refused and granted the police a week’s time.
Here are five things you need to know:
1) The court was hearing a petition on the alleged parading of a woman, from Chirala of Prakasam district, who was accused of theft, before the media. The accused’s son had moved the court seeking action against the police, stating that such a practice goes against his mother’s right to privacy.
2) The petitioner had submitted to the court certain photographs alleging ‘incorrect police behaviour’ on part of the police. One of the photographs showed the police holding the neck of the woman accused.
3) The bench comprising of Justice C V Nagarjuna Reddy and Justice G Shyam Prasad had on June 21 stated that the police does not have any authority to publish or telecast the photos of the accused.
4) The bench observed that the police did not have any right to violate the rights of individuals and their privacy even if the persons concerned were accused persons or convicts.
5) Lawyers and activists had welcomed the HC observation. Senior advocate Yeggoni Jayaraju had told TNM that such practices amount to a violation of the personal liberty guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. Questioning the ‘normalised’ model of parading the accused even before a trial takes place in the Magistrate Court, activist K Sudha asked, "What if the accused is acquitted?”