HC disposes of PIL against AP police over 'arrest' of TN woodcutters

The Madras High Court today declined to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) petition, which alleged that over 500 woodcutters from Tamil Nadu were illegally detained by the Andhra Pradesh police, citing jurisdictional limitations.
Disposing of the petition, the first bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose wondered how the court could issue a direction to the Andhra Pradesh Police on a PIL.
The bench said it could not, on a PIL, exercise jurisdiction over the police authorities of Andhra Pradesh, adding that it might have stepped in if any aggrieved person had approached it.
The court, however, directed the Tamil Nadu police to ensure that the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in the D K Basu case were complied with in their letter and spirit.

In the case, the apex court had laid down various guidelines, including intimation to relatives on arrest and protection of prisoners' rights.
Petitioner P Pugalenthi, a lawyer, had alleged that over 500 woodcutters from Tamil Nadu were illegally detained by the Andhra Pradesh police in 2017 and sought a direction for appropriate action against the "erring officials" of that state.

He had also alleged that the Andhra police had been arresting woodcutters from Tamil Nadu without informing the local police and in violation of the guidelines laid down in the DK Basu case.
In the past, the Andhra police had arrested several woodcutters on the charge of felling red sanders trees in the Seshachalam forests in Chittoor district of the neighbouring state.

In April 2015, 20 woodcutters, several of them Tamils and alleged to be sandalwood smugglers, were killed and six policemen injured in an exchange of fire after the group attacked a police team in the Seshachalam hill ranges.