Telangana HC pulls up police over Osmania Uni prof's arrest, questions urgency of raid
The Telangana High Court on Saturday pulled up the state police over the arrest of Osmania University Professor Chintakindi Kasim and raids on his residence at the varsity's faculty quarters.
Hearing a habeas corpus petition at the residence of the Chief Justice as it was a court holiday, a division bench comprising CJ RS Chauhan and Justice A Abhishek Reddy asked the police to produce Kasim in front of them by 10.30 am on Sunday.
Kasim was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for having alleged links to Maoists.
Professor Gaddam Laxman from the Civil Liberties Committee, who filed the habeas corpus petition, alleged that the police had stopped students and colleagues from meeting Kasim, and also expressed apprehensions that the investigation authorities could plant material at Kaseem's house, to substantiate their claim that he was allegedly linked to Maoists.
The counsel for the state, Harinder Prasad, informed the court that the case had been booked in 2016, and Kasim was 'absconding' since then.
The bench asked the police to justify its urgency in conducting a raid, especially in a case that was four years old, and asked if they had issued notices in the first place.
Responding to the claim that he was absconding, the court dismissed it as ridiculous and pointed out that Kasim had been conducting classes at OU for the last four years.
The Chief Justtice also pointed out that the police had been following a similar pattern in many such cases, and warned them that a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe could be initiated into the matter.
The Telangana police have been accused of claiming down on dissent in the state, with Gadwal district police earlier arresting several activists including Telangana Vidyarthi Vedika President Bandari Maddileti, Telangana Praja Front state vice-president Nalamasi Krishna and Osmania University's Assistant Professor K Jagan on the charges of having links with banned CPI (Maoist) and furthering their activities.