Hyderabad, Sep 8 : In a setback to the Telangana government, a city court on Tuesday rejected the petition for judicial remand of BRS MLCs Tata Madhusudan alias Madhu and N Naveen Kumar Reddy, arrested for allegedly making derogatory and abusive remarks against Telangana Legislative Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar.
The police, which arrested the MLCs from their houses in the morning, produced them before Nampally Court.
However, after hearing the arguments from both sides, the court rejected their remand report.
The court did not find any grounds for sending the legislators to judicial custody.
The court set the legislators free after directing them to furnish personal bonds of Rs 10,000 each.
Hailing the court order, Tata Madhu said that while Chief Minister Revanth Reddy sought to send them to jail through a false case, justice has ultimately prevailed.
He thanked BRS President K. Chandrasekhar Rao and the party for standing by us, as well as the lawyers who argued their case.
Later, the MLCs arrived at the Legislative complex and called on Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President K. T. Rama Rao.
Earlier, the police arrested Madhu from his residence in New MLA Quarters while Naveen Kumar Reddy was taken into custody from his Kokapet residence.
Protesting against their arrests, BRS workers had gathered outside Narayanguda Police Station. Police detained the protestors and shifted them to different police stations.
The MLCs were later taken to a government hospital for a medical check-up and were subsequently produced before a court.
The legislators belonging to the BRS had made the alleged remarks against the Speaker during a protest by the party MLAs and MLCs at the Assembly entrance on Monday when police had stopped them from entering the premises for wearing black T-shirts with slogans.
The arrests followed a case registered against them on a complaint filed by Pollepalli Venkatesham, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Assembly Speaker. The complainant stated that the Speaker, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste (Madiga) community, was intentionally insulted, humiliated and demeaned in public view before journalists, electronic media crews, Assembly staff and security personnel. It was also alleged that the remarks were made with full knowledge of his social background and were aimed at lowering his personal and constitutional standing.
Based on the complaint, Saifabad Police registered a case under Section 352 r/w 3(5) BNS and Sections 3(1)(r), 3(2)(va), 3(2)(vii) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Court rejects remand of BRS MLCs arrested for remarks against Speaker
