Utchimali v. The Additional Chief Secretary To Government
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 27.03.2023
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.SUNDAR and THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.NIRMAL KUMAR Utchimali W/o.Kethirapal .. Petitioner/Mother of Detenu Vs.
1.The Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Home, Prohibition and Excise Department, Secretariat, Chennai - 600 009.
2.The District Collector and District Magistrate, Office of the District Collector, Coimbatore - 641 018.
3.The Superintendent of Police, Office of the Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore - 641 018.
4.The Superintendent of Prinson, Central Prison, Coimbatore - 641 018.
5.The Inspector of Police, Periyanaickenpalayam Police Station, Coimbatore - 641 020.
.. Respondents Page Nos.1/8
Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a writ of habeas corpus to call for the entire records connected with the detention order of the 2nd respondent in Cr.M.P.No.20/G/2022/E1 dated 30.07.2022 and quash the same and direct the respondents to produce the body and person of detenu namely I Court Maharaja, S/o.Kethirapal aged about 25 years detained in Central Prison, Coimbatore, before this Court and set him at liberty forthwith For Petitioner :
Mr.B.M.Santharam For Respondents :
Mr.R.Muniyapparaj Additional Public Prosecutor assisted by Mr.M.Sylvester John, Advocate
O R D E R
[Order of the Court was made by M.SUNDAR, J.] This order will now dispose of the captioned 'Habeas Corpus Petition' ['HCP' for the sake of convenience and clarity].
2. This order has to be read in conjunction with and in continuation of proceedings made by this Bench in the admission listing on 09.02.2023 and a scanned reproduction of the same is as follows: Page Nos.2/8
Page Nos.3/8
Page Nos.4/8
3. The aforementioned proceedings is telltale qua crux of the matter and the primary ground on which the challenge to the impugned detention order is predicated. Though two grounds have been captured in paragraph 5 of the admission proceedings, in the hearing today, learned counsel predicated his argument on one of the grounds, i.e, the 'live and proximate link' between the grounds of detention and purpose of detention has snapped. To be noted, this was projected as 82 days delay in making the detention order and that has been captured in the admission order.
4. We remind ourselves of Sushanta Kumar Banik's case [Sushanta Kumar Banik Vs. State of Tripura & others reported in 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 813 : 2022 SCC OnLine SC 1333]. To be noted, Banik case law arose under 'Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988' [hereinafter 'PIT NDPS Act' for the sake of brevity] in Tirupura, wherein after considering a proposal by a Sponsoring Authority and after noticing the trajectory the matter took, Hon'ble Supreme Court held that the 'live and proximate link between grounds of detention and purpose of detention snapping' point should be examined on a case to case basis. Page Nos.5/8
Hon'ble Supreme Court has held in Banik case law that this point has two facets. One facet is 'unreasonable delay' and the other facet is 'unexplained delay'. We find that the captioned matter falls under latter facet i.e., unexplained delay.
5. To be noted, Banik case has been respectfully followed by this Court in Gomathi Vs.The Principal Secretary to Government and others Sadik Basha Yusuf Vs. The State of Tamil Nadu and others reported vide Vs. The Secretary to the Government and others reported vide Neutral Citation of Madras High Court being 2023:MHC:1110, N.Anitha Vs. The Secretary to Government and others reported vide Neutral Citation of Madras High Court being 2023:MHC:1159 and a series of other orders in HCP cases.
6. Before concluding, we also remind ourselves that preventive detention is not a punishment and HCP is a high prerogative writ. Page Nos.6/8
7. Apropos, the sequitur is, captioned HCP is allowed. Impugned detention order dated 30.07.2022 bearing reference Cr.M.P.No.20/G/2022/E1 made by the second respondent is set aside and the detenu Thiru.I Court Maharaja, aged 25 years, son of Thiru.Kethirapal, now detained in Central Prison, Coimbatore is directed to be set at liberty forthwith unless required in connection with any other case/s. There shall be no order as to costs. (M.S.,J.) (M.N.K.,J.) 27.03.2023 Index : Yes / No Speaking / Non-speaking rsi P.S: Registry to forthwith communicate this order to Jail authorities in Central Prison, Coimbatore.
Page Nos.7/8
M.SUNDAR, J.
and M.NIRMAL KUMAR, J.
rsi To 1.The Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Home, Prohibition and Excise Department, Secretariat, Chennai - 600 009.
2.The District Collector and District Magistrate, Office of the District Collector, Coimbatore - 641 018.
3.The Superintendent of Police, Office of the Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore - 641 018.
4.The Superintendent of Prinson, Central Prison, Coimbatore - 641 018.
5.The Inspector of Police, Periyanaickenpalayam Police Station, Coimbatore - 641 020.
6.The Public Prosecutor High Court, Madras.
27.03.2023 Page Nos.8/8