Observing that preventive detention is preventive and not punitive, the Madras High Court released a person detained under Goondas Act, while reiterating that when ordinary law of the land is sufficient to deal with, taking recourse to preventive detention is illegal.
Chennai: A division bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and Justice D Krishnakumar made the observation while allowing an habeas corpus petition moved by a woman seeking to produce her husband Mookan, who was detained as a bootlegger under the Goondas Act, without furnishing any details about the detention either to her or his relatives.
Holding that non-furnishing of details to the relatives of the detenu would amount to deprivation of his right to make an effective representation, the bench said “It is a trite law that personal liberty protected under Article 21 is so sacrosanct and so high in the scale of Constitutional values that it is the obligation of the detaining authority to show that the impugned detention meticulously accords with the procedure established by law.”
Based on this, the bench directed the release of Mookan. It further pointed out that this court has also taken the similar view that such cases of detention cannot be sustained wherein the booklet furnished is a mere endorsement by the authorities to the effect that the arrest intimation has been informed to the family member of the detenu through SMS, but no materials have been furnished to substantiate that it was sent through Thapal or Registered post or as per the procedure laid down.
Holding that non-furnishing of details to the relatives of the detenu would amount to deprivation of his right to make an effective representation, the bench said “It is a trite law that personal liberty protected under Article 21 is so sacrosanct and so high in the scale of Constitutional values that it is the obligation of the detaining authority to show that the impugned detention meticulously accords with the procedure established by law.”
Based on this, the bench directed the release of Mookan. It further pointed out that this court has also taken the similar view that such cases of detention cannot be sustained wherein the booklet furnished is a mere endorsement by the authorities to the effect that the arrest intimation has been informed to the family member of the detenu through SMS, but no materials have been furnished to substantiate that it was sent through Thapal or Registered post or as per the procedure laid down.
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