A Hyderabad-based activist residing in the Kala Patthar area has written to Commissioner of Police CV Anand asking for a thorough review of procedures and guidelines surrounding cordons and searches. The letter by activist SQ Masood on Friday, July 14, was written in view of the recent cordon and search operations conducted in Basharathnagar, Kalapatthar between 1 am and 4 am on May 31, 2023.
Masood alleged that police entered households in the neighbourhood without producing any warrant which would qualify as a vexatious search under the Hyderabad Police Act. Masood further noted that the searches are arbitrarily being carried out without explaining the rationale behind them.
“The cordon and search operations are carried out under Section 94 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, which is a blatant misuse of the section considering it only allows to look for stolen property and not to look for property documents of vehicles, gas connection, number of people and migrant workers residing in a house etc,” Masood in his letter, said.
Masood asked for all the warrants taken to conduct cordon and searches in Kalapatthar and demanded that the Telangana policing manual be made public to explain policing practices, especially in cases of cordon and searches.
The operation conducted on May 31 was led by South Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police Sai Chaitanya with 250 police personnel.
“We knew that over 20 accused who were issued non-bailable warrants were in the Kalapatthar area but refused to appear before the court. They were accused in housebreaking, burglary, and criminal assault cases. A cordon and search operation on May 31 was necessary to arrest these people and produce them before the court,” Chaitanya told TNM.
He also said that cordon and search operations are carried out mainly at night because the accused can abscond easily during the day. “There is nothing illegal or arbitrary about this move. We had the warrant issued by Hyderabad Commissioner of Police CV Anand, who is empowered to act in a Magisterial capacity if the need arises,” he added.