Writ Court Cannot Grant Police Aid In Civil Disputes Unless There Is Evidence Of Breach Of Peace And Tranquility: Telangana High Court

"In the opinion of this Court, the petitioner has not made out any case of emergent situation warranting indulgence of this Court for grant of police aid. Unless some material is placed before this Court to demonstrate that the unofficial respondents have acted in contravention of law, have acted highhandedly and that there is breach of peace and tranquility, normally, this Court would not interfere in civil disputes."

The Petitioner, claiming to be the owner of certain lands situated in Ranga Reddy District, was aggrieved by the lack of police protection provided to her and her family members against the Respondents. She averred that in 2021, when she came to India to visit her property, she noticed that the Respondents had attempted to damage the boundary stones in the subject land. A suit was filed against the Respondents for the perpetual injunction wherein an ad-interim injunction was granted.

The petitioners contended that in spite of injunction order, the respondents got registered two cases against the petitioner including criminal intimidation, criminal trespass, wrongful restraint and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The petitioner also registered a criminal case against the respondents and sought for police protection as the respondents were continuously trying to dispossess the petitioner from the subject land. However, the police did not act on the representation of the petitioner.

Court's Ruling

Taking into consideration the facts of the case and the pendency of the Suit for permanent injunction, the Court held that it was not inclined to pass any orders as the Petitioner had failed to prove that there was an emergency situation warranting indulgence of the Court for grant of police aid. Vague allegations against the respondents would not give rise to a cause of action to seek police protection, it said.

However the Court gave Petitioner the liberty to request for a police protection before the Civil Court.

Hence the Writ Petition was dismissed.

Case Title: Donepudi Sandhya C. Sandhya v. The State of Telangana

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Tel) 99