Censuring a superintendent of police (SP) and sub-inspector (SI) for being vindictive in their attitude, Justice CV Nagarjuna Reddy of AP High Court on Thursday quashed a rowdy sheet they opened against a journalist and slapped a cost of Rs 5,000 on them with a direction to the SP to recover it from the salary of the SI and pay to the scribe. The judge made this order after hearing a petition filed by one P Sathiyya Naidu, a reporter working with a vernacular daily in East Godavari district, who charged the police with acting in a malicious manner.
According to him, the SI of Katrenikona police station opened a rowdy sheet against him on March 31, 2007 after implicating him as an accused in a case. Two months later,another case was booked against him on June 18. This was done after I wrote a story against the SI. They have been after me ever since the publication of the story, the scribe said in his petition. Interestingly, one case that was slapped against the scribe pertains to preparation of a forged house site patta in the name of the then chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy who was shown as a beneficiary of an Indiramma house. The second case charged him with spreading animosity against the police in the vicinity.
The judge said the court was at a loss to know as to on what basis the rowdy sheet was opened when he did not attract any of the clauses of the standing order of the police manual warranting that. Opening of a rowdy sheet will have the effect of causing humiliation to the scribe, he said and added that malice is writ large in the action of the SI. Describing the rowdy sheet as wholly unwarranted and unconstitutional apart from being subversive of Article 21 of the Constitution, the judge quashed the rowdy sheet and slapped costs against the police. If Rs 5,000 is not paid to the journalist within four weeks, he is entitled to recover the same by taking recourse to due legal process, the judge said.
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(source-toi)
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