The Telangana High Court on Monday directed the state Director General of Police to identify police personnel accused of misbehaving with and manhandling women legislators of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi during an altercation at the Legislative Assembly.
Issuing a modification to its September 7 interim order, Justice T Madhavi Devi instructed the state police chief to place the identified personnel’s details before the Assembly Speaker to determine appropriate disciplinary action. The court clarified that should evidence indicate the alleged confrontation occurred outside the Assembly precincts at the entry gate, the DGP must submit those findings directly to the High Court.
Jurisdiction and Precinct Boundaries
The ruling arrived during hearings on an application filed by the state government seeking to vacate the interim directions granted in a writ petition moved by the BRS Legislative Party. While declining to disrupt the principle that breaches of legislative rules remain under the Speaker’s jurisdiction, the court altered the directives governing the police response.
Justice Madhavi Devi noted that the threshold question of whether the petition is legally maintainable requires thorough examination and will be settled at the final hearing. The bench pointed out that because the confrontation took place at the legislative entrance, further determination is necessary to establish whether the lawmakers were obstructed before crossing into the Assembly precincts or after they had already entered.
State Contentions and Police Records
In its petition, the state asserted that the opposition party’s legal challenge was not maintainable, maintaining that security personnel operated under direct instructions from the Speaker and the Chief Marshal to preserve order inside the legislature. The Advocate General contended that BRS members defied official instructions by wearing black T-shirts printed with political slogans and forcibly attempting to breach security cordons.
To support its position, the state cited an ongoing First Information Report and a prohibitory order issued by the Hyderabad Police Commissioner. However, the court observed that the registered FIR made no mention of any violation of the September 5 prohibitory notification.
