Justice K. Lakshman of Telangana High Court on Friday ordered that all material and papers of Saayudha Shanthi Swapnam (a book on late Maoist top leader Akkiraju Haragopal alias Ramakrishna), confiscated by Hyderabad police, be returned to his wife Shirisha.
The judge also quashed a First Information Report issued by police against Sandhya of Progressive Organisation for Women and her husband Ramakrishna Reddy, owners of Navya printers, where the book was being published.
While Ramakrishna’s wife Shirisha filed a writ petition seeking return of the material and papers relating to the book, V. Sandhya and A. Ramakrishna Reddy filed a criminal petition challenging the FIR. Both the petitions were heard together by the court and adjudicated on Friday.
Pronouncing the verdict, the judge instructed the police to unseal Navya printers and permit the couple to operate the said press without creating any problem. All the material (papers, 1,000 copies of the book and other items) seized from the press by the Amberpet police should be returned to the petitioners.
The entire action of police in conducting searches and seizure on Navya printers premises was illegal and contrary to the provisions of the Public Security Act invoked in the case and Criminal Procedure Code, the judgment said.
The Amberpet police of Hyderabad invoked Public Security Act in the case. The Hyderabad Police Commissioner, who is empowered to invoke the Act, is expected to go through the notification to be issued while invoking the Act, the judge observed. The Commissioner had allowed his subordinates to proceed with the search and seizure without completing the mandatory procedure of getting the notification published in the Gazette, the judge said.
Lawyers Nandigam Krishna Rao and D. Suresh Kumar appeared for the petitioners.
