Hyderabad High Court: Detenu entitled to detention papers in known language

HYDERABAD: When a person is detained under the Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Dacoits, Drug Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Land Grabbers Act 1986, it is the constitutional duty of the state to protect and safeguard the rights of such detenu. Accordingly, it has to make available the relied-upon documents in the language known and understood by the detenu to make effective representation against his detention. Failure to do by the state is violation of his constitutional right.

Dealing with a case filed by a detenu challenging the detention order, a division bench of the Hyderabad High Court has quashed the impugned detention order by pointing out that the police authorities concerned supplied the detention order and ground of detention in the languages not known to the detenu.

Once the translated copies of all the relevant material are provided to the detenu, it will be open to him to take the assistance of others, including his family and friends, to formulate an effective representation to the authorities against his detention. It is the constitutional duty of the state to make the documents available in any language known and understood by the detenu, failing which it would violate his constitutional right, the bench has observed.

The counsel appearing for the detenu told the court that his client is a resident of Karnataka, and Kannada and Urdu were his known languages. The authorities supplied the detention order and grounds of detention in Urdu i.e. the known language of the detenu. But the rest of the relied-upon documents were supplied to him in Telugu and English. Therefore, the detenu failed to make effective representation to the authorities.

Thus, the detention order deserved to be quashed, he argued. Even the counsel appearing for the respondent authorities fairly conceded that the known languages of the detenu are Kannada and Urdu, but the relied-upon documents were not supplied in the said languages but in Telugu and English.

The bench, comprising justices Suresh Kumar Kait and G Shyam Prasad, has made it clear that it was the duty of the superintendent of police concerned to ensure that the detention order and the grounds of detention are served upon the detenu. Further, the SP is duty bound to provide, under Section 8 of the Act 1986, the relied-upon documents in the language known to the detenu within five days from the date of detention.

“Such type of issues have been coming before the courts since 1960s and various High Courts and the Supreme Court have passed the orders and gave directions again and again. Yet, respondent authorities are committing such type of silly mistakes, which is not acceptable”, the bench said.  While quashing the impugned detention order, the bench directed the SP concerned to release the detenu forthwith (if not required in any other criminal case), and cautioned the officer to be careful in future.