The habeas corpus petition filed by Chaitanya Mahila Sangham (CMS) was closed by Telangana High Court on Friday, with the Bhadradri-Kothagudem police presenting the three detained persons before the court.
As per the directions of the bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A. Abhishek Reddy, the HC Registrar General recorded statements of the three persons. The bench declared the habeas corpus petition seeking production of D. Devendra, M. Swapna and M. Sandeep as closed as there was no illegality in their detention and that the police had presented them in the court.
While Ms. Devendra and Ms. Swapna were joint secretaries of CMS (organisation for women’s rights), Sandeep was general secretary of Telangana Vidyarthi Vedika (forum of students of Telangana). The petition was filed by CMS after the police forcibly took away them from a house at Naagaram in Keesara three days ago, alleging that there was threat to their lives.
When the plea came up for hearing on Thursday, the government counsel told the bench that Bhadradri-Kothagudem police had arrested them on charge of links with the outlawed CPI (Maoists). They were presented before a local magistrate there and remanded in judicial custody, the counsel informed the bench.
However, the bench insisted on production of the three persons before it on Friday brushing aside objections raised by the counsel. When police presented them in the First Court hall on Friday, the bench spoke with them. Ms. Devendra told the bench that police picked her up in the early hours of Wednesday.
She made it clear that whatever material the police claimed to have found during the searches was planted and did not belong to her. Ms. Devendra said that her husband Prabhakar was a Maoist and got killed in an exchange of fire with the police. However, she said she was working for the rights of women through CMS and neither she or others working for the organisation had any links with the Maoists.
Later, as per the bench’s direction, the HC Registrar General recorded statements of the woman and the other two arrested persons. After lunch break, the bench announced the petition was being closed. Following the request of the petitioner’s lawyer V. Raghunath, the bench permitted family members of the arrested persons to speak with the latter for 30 minutes on the court premises before sending them back in judicial remand.
