Hyderabad (Telangana): Telangana High Court on Monday questioned police officers for having confined a 6-month old pregnant lady under the Preventive Detention (PD) Act. A bench of Justices A Rajasheker Reddy and Shameem Akther criticized the police while hearing a petition filed by the woman's mother challenging the detention. It is being alleged that the pregnant woman who hails from Nakrekal town of Nalgonda district used to run a utensil business and had duped people with false promises. Following several complaints against her, the police had arrested her using PD Act and sent her to the Chanchalguda women’s prison.
During the hearing, the pregnant woman's advocate argued in the court saying why she was arrested in the first place, when the issue could be dealt with the help of IPC provisions, adding she also has a 5-year-old son to look after. Replying to the court, Public Prosecutor T Srikanth Reddy, arguing the case for the state home department, said that they would argue the case next week. The court adjourned the hearing to May 19th.
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"The fact that she is pregnant is enough to set her free on bail, and PD Act cannot be sustained on such people. You need not argue this on merits. We have already pronounced our judgment in a similar case earlier," the High Court said, citing an earlier case of an 8-yr old pregnant woman who was held under the PD Act, in connection with immoral trafficking in Malkajgiri, Rangareddy district. The Court had quashed the detention order of the police, saying that as she's pregnant she cannot be jailed for longer periods as PD Act does not allow bail to such prisoners.
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