Revanth files petition for bail, HC adjourns case till 17 March

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on 13 March adjourned the hearing on the three petitions filed by Congress MP A. Revanth Reddy seeking regular bail, quashing of FIR filed against him by the Narsingi police and quashing of his remand order passed by the XVI additional chief metropolitan magistrate of Cyberabad at Rajendranagar on 5 March. The High Court said it will dispose of all the three petitions on 17 March.

The senior advocate of the Supreme Court and senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid argued the case on behalf of the MP before a single judge Bench of the HC headed by Justice G. Sridevi. During his arguments, he urged the High Court to grant bail to his client in the case filed against him for the use of a drone camera under Section 11(A)R/W 5A of the Aircraft Act of 1934. The offense has a maximum punishment of one month. He pointed out that the case was registered by the police on the basis of a complaint lodged by a police constable G. Venkatesh instead of a competent authority under the Act.

Countering the arguments of Mr Khursheed, the public prosecutor of the state government Pratap Reddy told the HC that the MP had intruded on the privacy of an individual by using the drone without taking any permission. He also told the court that the petitioner was taken into custody according to the existing rules and regulations. Later, Justice G. Sridevi said she would dispose of all the three petitions filed by the MP on Tuesday and adjourned the case until 17 March.

In the first petition, Mr Revanth urged the HC to grant him bail in the case filed against him by the Narsingi police under Sections 188, 287, 109, 115, 201, and 120(b) of the IPC and Section 11(A)R/W 5A of the Aircraft Act, 1934. In the second petition, he urged the HC to quash the FIR filed against him by the police besides granting a stay on all further proceedings in the same case. In the third petition, he urged the HC to quash the remand order passed by the trial court on 5 March. In his bail plea, Mr Revanth told the HC that the sub-inspector of Narsingi police station had arrested him without any notice and denied him the opportunity even to meet his lawyer.

Mr Revanth also said the Narsingi police violated all principles of law and acted contrary to the provisions of CRPC in clear violation of his rights as a citizen and also as a Member of the Parliament while noting that the police has acted contrary to all established provisions and law declared by the apex court of the country. He also said that he was prevented from attending the ongoing Parliament session. Thus, the privileges of a Parliament member were violated by the police. The MP has been lodged in Cherlapally jail since 5 March.