Hyderabad: The Telangana high court on Tuesday questioned the police over their alleged high-handedness towards women BRS legislators at the assembly premises on Monday, asking whether the incident reflected the force’s attitude towards women lawmakers and women in general.Hearing a vacate petition filed by the state against Monday’s orders, Justice T Madhavi Devi expressed concern over allegations that a woman MLA’s saree was pulled and another was allegedly held by the neck while police personnel prevented BRS legislators from entering the assembly premises. The judge also questioned the absence of women police personnel during the incident.“Is this the respect you show to women, particularly women legislators? They were allegedly manhandled despite neither wearing T-shirts displaying slogans nor carrying posters or placards, and were merely dressed in black sarees,” the judge observed.On Monday, the court directed the Director General of Police (DGP) not to restrain BRS MLAs from entering the assembly and to identify and take action against police personnel allegedly involved in the incident.Questioning the registration of cases against the BRS legislators, the judge asked whether the assembly chief marshal had authorised the police to stop the MLAs and whether such communication had been placed before the court.Justice Madhavi Devi also took exception to the state’s use of the word “permitted”, asking under what authority the police could allow or deny legislators entry when elected members had a right to enter the House and discharge their duties.Advocate general A Sudarshan Reddy, arguing the vacate petition for the state, contended that the observations and directions of the court (on Monday) could impact the discharge of police duties. He submitted that the police had acted on instructions from the DGP, who had received directions from the speaker’s office to restrain legislators allegedly violating assembly guidelines.The judge, however, sought clarification on whether those guidelines had been issued before or after the alleged incident and reserved orders on the matter. She also asked when the speaker’s office had communicated its instructions to the DGP.In response, the advocate general contended that BRS legislators had violated assembly guidelines by wearing T-shirts carrying messages against the govt and raising slogans within the premises. He further argued that although the legislators had been issued vehicle-entry passes, they arrived in groups while raising slogans instead of using the designated entry arrangements.Senior counsel Gandra Mohan Rao, appearing for the petitioner — BRS MLA and deputy floor leader Talasani Srinivas Yadav, disputed the state’s version and questioned the timing of the communication allegedly issued by assembly authorities to the police.He submitted that a legislator wearing a black T-shirt with slogans had been stopped at the assembly gate at around 9.30 am. “Where was the marshal’s letter at that time?” he asked, arguing that the communication had been created subsequent to the court’s intervention during the lunch-motion hearing.Rao further contended that only the speaker and assembly marshals were empowered to enforce rules governing legislators’ conduct within the premises. Allowing the police to determine whether legislators had violated the speaker’s directions or the assembly bulletin would undermine legislative independence, he argued.“If this power is given to the police, no legislature will be free. It will become a police raj,” he submitted.He also pointed out that the state’s affidavit did not refer to the alleged written communication from the assembly secretary or marshal that was later produced before the court. According to him, the assembly bulletin only prohibited shouting slogans, distributing pamphlets or displaying material unrelated to official assembly business.
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