Furnish details of cases against journalist, HC asks DGP

Ganji Raghu, working for a web news channel, was arrested recently by Mattampalli police of Suryapet district

Justice K. Lakshman of Telangana High Court on Wednesday directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to furnish a list of all criminal cases registered against Ganji Raghu, a journalist working for a web news channel, who was arrested recently by Mattampalli police of Suryapet district. The direction was passed after hearing a writ petition filed by the journalist’s wife G. Praveena seeking details of all First Information Reports (FIRs) issued against her husband by the Telangana police. In the writ petition, she expressed apprehensions that police would make attempts to keep her husband behind bars for a longer period by initiating action against him in different cases. She claimed that her husband was not issued notice under Section 41-A Criminal Procedure Code by the Mattampally police before picking up him from Malkajgiri of Hyderabad. They later formally announced his arrest in a criminal case registered in this February. The judge instructed the DGP to furnish details of the FIRs issued against Raghu by Monday. The judge also instructed the Assistant Government Pleader of Home department not to ask the journalist’s wife to approach the DGP to secure details of the cases registered against her husband. There was no need for her to give a representation to the DGP to secure information about the cases her husband was facing, the judge said. The petitioner’s counsel T. Rajinikanth Reddy informed the court that Mr. Raghu was lodged in a prison in Nalgonda. A bail application filed by him would be coming up for hearing before a judge on Thursday and hence details of all cases pending against him were required to inform the court concerned, the counsel said.