A bench of justices Deepak Verma and S J Mukhopadhyay said that the state's Director General of Police would have to face contempt of court if he does not provide police protection to R Chandra Sekhar Reddy.
The police protection was provided by the apex court after Reddy had alleged that he was facing threat for filing a PIL in the Supreme Court challenging the state government decision to release 1500 prisoners in 2007.
"How can you withdraw the police protection when it was done on the court's order. The order passed in 2007 has not been modified by the court. You might have to face contempt," the bench told the state government.
The court was hearing an interim application filed by Reddy in which he submitted that he continues to face threat to his life and that the security cover should be restored.
The petitioner said that he was forced to stay back at his house fearing danger to his family members. The withdrawl of the security has seriously affected his movement and his livelihood and was causing serious mental agony, he said.
The apex court had in August 2007 stayed the Andhra Pradesh government's plans of releasing 1,500 prisoners, including life convicts, on the occasion of 150 years of the First War of Independence.
The court had passed the order on a PIL filed by Reddy questioning the large-scale release of prisoners, alleging that the government wanted to benefit a Congress worker Gowru Venkata Reddy, who was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment after being convicted in a murder case.