Rachakonda police booked 576 PD Act cases between 2016-2022: RTI

Hyderabad: The Rachakonda commissioner of police invoked the Preventive Detention Act (PD Act) and detained a house burglar on 14 June. Jajala Laxmi Narsimha Swamy (27) was sent to the Central prison in Cherlapally.

Narsimha Swamy used to steal gold jewellery from the dressing rooms of function halls in Mahaboobnagar under the Rachakonda commissionerate limits. Since 2018, he has been involved in over 13 burglaries/thefts. He was arrested several times, sent to jail, and convicted by the court. However, he continued his criminal activities.

On 11 April, the Saroornagar police arrested Narsimha Swamy and remanded him in judicial custody. The police recovered gold ornaments weighing about 17 tolas from his possession.

To prevent the accused from committing burglaries and thefts, the Rachakonda commissioner of police detained him and sent him to Cherlapally Central prison.

This is among one of the over 500 PD Act cases under Rachakonda police commissionerate that booked 576 PD Act cases from 2016 to May 2022, as per RTI information accessed by activist S.Q Masood.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court while hearing the plea against the PD Act said the Act strikes hard on the freedom and liberty of an individual and cannot be exercised in a routine manner. It also observed that the powers to be exercised under this law are exceptional powers that have been given to the government to exercise in an exceptional situation.

The apex court also said that preventive detention would be bad and in violation of Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution as it encroaches upon the liberty and freedom of an individual.

As per the RTI, Rachakonda commissionerate invoked the PD Act in 20 cases in 2016, 34 cases in 2017, 102 cases in 2018, 82 cases in 2019, 171 cases in 2021, and 85 cases till May 2022.

The Bench of Justices C.T Ravikumar and Sudhanshu Dhulia was hearing an appeal against the March decision of the Telangana High Court which dismissed the Habeas Corpus writ petition of Shaik Nazneen challenging the prevention detention of her husband.

The prevention detention order was passed against her husband on 28 October 2021 by the Rachakonda commissioner of police on grounds that he was involved in gold chain snatching offences, where victims were mostly women, since 2020 in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He was involved in as many as 36 gold chain snatchings.