Follow HC guidelines for including Rowdy Sheet names

S Shyam Prasad | NT

Bengaluru: The High Court has reiterated that the guidelines issued by the court should be followed while opening a ‘rowdy sheet’ in the name of any person.

The order by Justice M Nagaprasanna came in a petition filed by one Praveen Acharya, a 40-year-old from Udupi who claimed that his name had been wrongly added to the list by the police.

The petition sought direction from the court to remove Acharya’s name from the ‘rowdy sheeter list’ maintained by the Bhramavara police station in Udupi.

His advocate Mathapati Prashant Kempayya, submitted that his client was “in shock for the reason that his name is dragged into the list of rowdies maintained in the aforesaid police station.”

He had filed an application under the Right to Information Act seeking information as to why his name was added to the list of rowdies.

He also approached the police seeking deletion of his name from the list. Since there was no response to his request, he approached the HC.

The advocate submitted that Acharya’s “name has been dragged into the list of rowdies without any rhyme or reason and therefore, it is to be deleted forthwith.”

The Government advocate however told the court that Acharya was involved in seven crimes and was also convicted in one of them. Acharya’s representation for removal of his name would be considered as per the guidelines laid down by the High Court in a 2021 judgement, if sufficient time is granted, he informed the court.

Considering this submission the HC ordered that “The representation of the petitioner (Acharya) dated 17.03.2023 shall be considered strictly in consonance with the guidelines so laid down by the Co-ordinate Bench within twelve weeks from the date of receipt of copy of this order, if not earlier.”

A bench of the HC had laid down nine guidelines for “Rowdy/History Sheeting”.

These included that “Any individual aggrieved by the rejection of his representation or continuation of his name in the Register may petition to the Police Complaints Authority ordinarily within 30 days. However, no personal hearing shall avail. The petition shall be disposed of by recording reasons within an outer limit of 60 days, after considering the material on record or the fresh inputs that may be requisitioned, by the authority.”

WP 6851/2023