High Court questioned AP government in its stance on the Muslim youth attack on the Guntur police station
In 2018, an incident took place when a Muslim youth attacked the old Guntur police station. The police registered FIRs against the perpetrators of the attack and the DGP wrote a letter to the government on 17.02.20 withdrawing the prosecution on the cases. The Government approved the letter dated 12.08.2020. The Station House Officer and the Public Prosecutor were instructed to withdraw the prosecution by releasing RT776. The Legal Rights Protection Forum has recently filed a public interest litigation in the High Court on this issue.
Counsel for the petitioner, P.S.P. Suresh Kumar and Chanakya were heard arguing that it was against the public interest for the police to withdraw the prosecution in the actual attack on the police station and that the G.O. The High Court was asked to hold a comprehensive inquiry with the Independent Investigation Agency. The bench comprising Justices Rakesh Kumar and Umadevi, which heard the arguments, also took issue with the language of the GO, expressing anger. In a secular democracy it is wrong to refer to the GO directly as “Muslim youth”. The tribunal directed the counsel for the petitioner to include the NIA as a party in the petition. Instructing the government to immediately file a counterclaim, it issued interim orders suspending the GO and adjourned the case to October 1.
