The Telangana High Court’s single bench, led by Justice Bollam Vijaysen Reddy, has suspended the enquiry report from the VS Sirpurkar commission regarding the rape-murder case of “Disha”. This decision came after writ petitions were filed by the former tahsildar Jaravath Pandu and A Sridhar, the former Station House Officer of Shadnagar Police Station.
In another set of writs filed by police officers, the judge instructed the government not to take any coercive actions against them until the next hearing in July. The case (no.784/2019) was registered by Shadnagar police in connection to the rape-murder of “Disha”, where the four accused were killed by the police team on December 6, 2019.
The commission recommended that ten police officers who were present at the scene where the accused were killed should be tried for various offenses. The police officers and tahsildar sought to set aside the findings of the commission, claiming that the report was not based on evidence. Senior counsels argued for the petitioners, and the court directed the government to refrain from taking any action based on the commission’s report until the next hearing in July 2024.
There are pending PILs before the CJ bench of the court requesting a CBI probe into the alleged rape-murder case of “Disha” and the subsequent encounter. These PILs were filed by various organizations and individuals, including retired professors, advocates, and women’s rights groups. The police officers who received relief from the High Court on Wednesday have also been included in these PILs, which are scheduled for a final hearing before the CJ bench.
