A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice T. Meena Kumari and Justice G. Chandraiah upheld as “reasonable” a single judge’s order to evict armed forces from the OU campus and asked the advocate-general whether the government had any justification for highhandedness of the police.
Adding to the state government’s discomfiture, Justice L. Narasimha Reddy of the High Court termed the director general of police, Mr R.R. Girish Kumar, a “lawless” person for ignoring the court order to remove paramilitary and special forces as well as barricades from the OU campus and also summoned Mr P.S.R. Anjaneyulu, joint commissioner of Hyderabad, to explain the reasons for the attack on scribes.
The division bench, which dismissed the state’s appeal against the order of the single judge, observed that keeping paramilitary forces on the campus only deteriorated the situation further.
“How long will you retain the armed forces on the pretext of restricting outside elements from entering the campus?” the judge asked.
“They fired rubber bullets at women,” added Justice Meena Kumari. “Thank God they did not fire real bullets. I stay adjacent to the campus and I have noticed normalcy. Let the civil police handle the situation.”
