S.Saraswathi v. The Secretary To Government
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 28.02.2023 Coram The Hon'ble Mr. Justice M.SUNDAR and The Hon'ble Mr. Justice M.NIRMAL KUMAR H.C.P. Nos.1477 and 1490 of 2022 H.C.P.No.1477 of 2022 S.Saraswathi ... Petitioner -vs1.The Secretary to Government, Home, Prohibition and Excise Department, Secretariat, Fort St. George, Chennai - 600 009.
2.The Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai, Office of the Commissioner of Police, Vepery, Chennai.
3.The Superintendent of Police, Central Prison-II, Puzhal, Chennai.
4.The Inspector of Police, G1 Vepery Police Station, Chennai.
... Respondents 1/9
Habeas Corpus Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, to issue a Writ of Habeas Corpus to call for the records pertaining to the order of detention passed by the second respondent in his proceedings in No.187/BCDFGISSSV/2022 dated 06.07.2022 and quash the same as illegal and produce the detenu Barath @ Mookku Barath, S/o.Sivakumar aged 25 years now he is confined in Central Prison, Puzhal II, Chennai before this Court and set him at liberty.
For Petitioner ..
Mr.S.Lokesh For Respondents ..
Mr.R.Muniyapparaj Additional Public Prosecutor H.C.P.No.1490 of 2022 K.Jambukarasi ... Petitioner -vs1.The Secretary to Government, Home, Prohibition and Excise Department, Secretariat, Fort St. George, Chennai - 600 009.
2.The Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai, Office of the Commissioner of Police, Vepery, Chennai.
3.The Superintendent of Police, Central Prison-II, Puzhal, Chennai.
4.The Inspector of Police, G1 Vepery Police Station, Chennai.
... Respondents 2/9
Habeas Corpus Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, to issue a Writ of Habeas Corpus to call for the records pertaining to the order of detention passed by the second respondent in his proceedings in No.188/BCDFGISSSV/2022 dated 06.07.2022 and quash the same as illegal and produce the detenu Vijayarangan, S/o.Kaviraj aged 24 years now he is confined in Central Prison, Puzhal II, Chennai before this Court and set him at liberty.
For Petitioner ..
Mr.S.Lokesh For Respondents ..
Mr.R.Muniyapparaj Additional Public Prosecutor COMMON ORDER [Order of the Court was made by M.SUNDAR, J.] This common order will now dispose of the captioned 'Habeas Corpus Petitions' [hereinafter 'HCPs' in plural and 'HCP' in singular for the sake of convenience and clarity].
2.For the sake of convenience, 'H.C.P.No.1477 of 2022' shall be referred to as 'I HCP' and 'H.C.P.No.1490 of 2022' shall be referred to as 'II HCP'.
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3.In both the HCPs, the detentions orders that have been called in question are dated 06.07.2022 and they bear reference No.187/BCDFGISSSV/2022 and No.188/BCDFGISSSV/2022 as regards I HCP and II HCP respectively.
4.The aforementioned detention orders shall be collectively referred to as 'impugned detention orders' and when they are referred to independently, the same shall be referred to as 'I impugned detention order' and 'II impugned detention order'. The impugned detention orders have been made by the 'second respondent' [hereinafter 'detaining authority' for the sake of brevity and convenience] interalia branding each of the detenue as 'Goonda' within the meaning of Section 2(f) of 'The Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug-offenders, Forestoffenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders Slum grabbers and Video Priates Act, 1982 (Tamil Nadu Act 14 of 1982)' [hereinafter 'Act 14 of 1982' for the sake of convenience]. The date of occurrence is 29.05.2022 and that is the date of arrest too.
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5.It may not be necessary to advert to the facts of the case much less delve into the same or dilate qua facts as it is a clear case of delay in considering the representation made qua detenues 6.Learned counsel for petitioners submits that there is a delay in considering the representations. In response to this, learned Additional Public Prosecutor placed before us a list of dates which reads as follows: Representation dated - 29.07.2022 Representation received on - 22.08.2022 File submitted on - 26.08.2022 Under Secretary dealt with on - 26.08.2022 Deputy Secretary dealt with on - 26.08.2022 Minister dealt with on - 29.08.2022 Rejection Letter prepared on - 29.08.2022 Rejection Letter sent to the detenu on - 29.08.2022 Govt. Holidays :
28.08.2022 S.No.
Representation Column 6 to 7 Column 9 to 10 1.
No. of days 2.
No. of Holidays - No. of delay days Total 4 days delay 5/9
7.The aforementioned chronology shows that there is delay in considering the representation. To be noted, this delay in considering the representation point should be considered on a case to case basis and there can be no straight jacket formula, it cannot be reduced to any number with specificity i.e., no numeric expression can be given to the same. We considered the facts and circumstances of the case, nature of the allegation qua ground case and we find that the aforementioned delay in considering the representations has caused an infraction of the constitutional guarantee ingrained in Clause (5) of Article 22 of the Constitution of India. 8.The above is good enough to interfere with the impugned detention orders.
9.Ergo, the sequitur is, (i) H.C.P. No.1477 of 2022 is allowed, impugned detention order dated 06.07.2022 bearing reference No.187/BCDFGISSSV/2022 made by the second respondent is set aside and detenu Thiru.Barath @ Mookku Barath, aged 25 years 6/9
Son of Thiru.Sivakumar, now detained in Central Prison-II, Puzhal, Chennai is directed to be set at liberty forthwith unless required in connection with any other case/s.
(ii) H.C.P. No.1490 of 2022 is allowed and impugned detention order dated 06.07.2022 bearing reference Memo No.188/BCDFGISSSV/2022 made by the second respondent is set aside and detenu Thiru.Vijayarangan, aged 24 years son of Thiru.Kaviraj, now detained in Central Prison-II, Puzhal, Chennai is directed to be set at liberty forthwith unless required in connection with any other case/s.
(M.S,J.) (M.N.K.,J.) 28.02.2023 Index:Yes/No cse Note: The Registry to forthwith communicate this order to Jail authorities in Central Prison, Puzhal, Chennai. 7/9
To 1.The Secretary to Government, Home, Prohibition and Excise Department, Secretariat, Fort St. George, Chennai - 600 009.
2.The Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai, Office of the Commissioner of Police, Vepery, Chennai.
3.The Superintendent of Police, Central Prison-II, Puzhal, Chennai.
4.The Inspector of Police, G1 Vepery Police Station, Chennai.
5.The Public Prosecutor, High Court of Madras, Chennai - 104.
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M.SUNDAR, J.
and M.NIRMAL KUMAR, J.
cse H.C.P.Nos.1477 and 1490 of 2022 28.02.2023 9/9