HYDERABAD, India, 14 August 2007 — A division bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court yesterday issued notices to the government of India, the Andhra Pradesh government, the Hyderabad City Police commissioner and the three MIM MLAs who attacked Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen here on Thursday while dealing with a petition filed by local writer and lawyer G.L. Narasimha Rao.
The division bench, comprising Chief Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy, also passed strictures on the police in the entire affair. The petitioner complained to the court that the attack on the writer was unconstitutional and against the country’s secular ethos, that too when she has taken shelter here( India).
The petitioner further said that the authorities had failed to take remedial steps to book the guilty in the case. He wanted the MLAs to be disqualified from the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly and sought a direction from the court to the police to book cases against the culprits under stringent sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The bench appointed a panel of three lawyers comprising Advocate General C.V. Mohan Reddy, senior advocate D. Prakash Reddy and advocate Ravi Shankar Jhandyala as amicus curie to assist the court in the matter. The case would be taken up for hearing after ten days.
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh State Human Rights Commission has directed the police commissioner to submit a detailed report on the attack. Taking cognisance of a number of petitions in this regard, the APSHRC directed the police commissioner to submit his report by Sept. 17.
