Telangana HC suspends judge who ordered FIR against CEC Kumar over minister’s poll affidavit

The Telangana High Court has placed under suspension a special sessions judge in connection with a ”direction” given by him to police for registering an FIR against Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and several others, saying the judge acted in ”undue haste”.

Official sources in Hyderabad and people aware of the development in Delhi said the suspension was initiated on the administrative side against K Jaya Kumar, the judge of special sessions court for trial of MPs/MLAs, after a complaint was lodged with the high court by a senior official of the Election Commission.

Based on a private complaint filed under Section 200 of the CrPC by Raghavendra Raju, the judicial officer ”acted in undue haste” without conducting any preliminary enquiry and without recording the statement of the complainant, the high court said. Thus, there was a serious lapse in the procedure followed by the officer while discharging his duties, the sources said citing the order issued by the high court on the administrative side.

The FIR was registered on August 11 against Telangana Excise Minister V Srinivas Goud, CEC Kumar and a host of other officials after being referred by the sessions court for allegedly ”tampering” Goud’s 2018 state assembly election affidavit.

The matter was referred to police by the sessions court on a private complaint which alleged that Goud, MLA from Mahabubnagar, had ”tampered” with the election affidavit by suppressing facts.

While Goud was named as the first accused, CEC Kumar and several other officials were made co-accused, who the complainant alleged had colluded with the minister and closed the election affidavit without taking any further action. The judicial officer was placed under suspension by the high court in exercise of the Telangana Civil Services Rules, 1991 ”in larger public interest”, the sources said citing the order.