Andhra Pradesh High Court adjourns hearing on phone-tapping issue to August 27

Nelapapdu (Amaravati): The Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court comprising Chief Justice Jitendra Kumar Maheswari and Justice D Ramesh on Thursday posted the hearing of the writ petition on phone tapping by the State government to August 27 after instructing the court registry to incorporate the affidavit filed by the petitioner NN Grace of Visakhapatnam with the main petition.

Earlier, the petitioner's counsel J Sravan Kumar submitted the affidavit which includes the details of the police officers monitoring the movements of judges as sought by the Division Bench in the earlier hearing on Tuesday.

The petitioner, Grace, in her writ petition alleged that the phones of judges, advocates and various important persons were being tapped in violation of the Telegraph Act and it was also against the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court. She contended that phone tapping is a serious offence that amounted to depriving the individuals of their fundamental right to privacy. Moreover, surveillance of phones of judges was a threat to the judiciary, she added.

Later, Sravan Kumar said that the division bench directed the petitioner to file a miscellaneous petition in two days. He said that it was not proper to reveal the details of the names mentioned in the affidavit.