Taking a strong objection to the way in which TPCC Working President Revanth Reddy was arrested, Hyderabad High Court stated that Telangana Police displayed “colonial hangover” in the whole episode.

Revanth Reddy was arrested at 3 am on Tuesday by the Telangana Police who jumped into the compound of his house and broke open their doors. Revanth was whisked away without even being produced an arrest warrant. When he and his supporters asked for a warrant, they were told that this was a preventive arrest, which means that such formalities do not come into picture.

Rajanikanth Reddy, who is representing Revanth Reddy, has informed the Court that Revanth was taken in custody on the pretext of Election Commission’s “credible intelligence” without a warrant. The Division Bench of Hyderabad High Court comprising Justice M. Satyanarayana Murthy and Justice Raghavendra Singh heard the Habeas Corpus writ petitioned by Congress leader V. Narender Reddy.

The Bench pointed out that there was nothing wrong in Revanth calling for a shutdown and asking people to not attend KCR’s election rally in Kodangal. Stating that the Telangana police exhibited a colonial hangover, the court pointed out that dissent in democracy “should and can” exist.

A hearing of this case will begin shortly and we are yet to see how the High Court will react to the manner in which the Telangana Police has handled this. Telangana DGP has also been asked to attend the court for an explanation. The judgement in either way will turn out be crucial for Revanth as well as TRS as it could alter the climate of voting, with just one day for Telangana elections.