TMI Blog2011 (4) TMI 1217X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rates Act, 1982, on the allegation that he was selling expired drugs after tampering with the labels and printing fresh labels showing them as non-expired drugs. The habeas corpus petition filed by the wife of the detenu before the Madras High Court challenging the said detention order has been dismissed by the impugned order dated 23.12.2010. Hence, this Appeal. Several grounds have been raised before us, but, in our opinion, this Appeal is liable to succeed on one ground itself, and hence we are not going into the other grounds. The detention order reads as under :- No. 199/2010 Dated 08.04.2010 DETENTION ORDER Whereas I, T. Rajendran, IPS., Commissioner of Police, Chennai Police, is satisfied that the person known as Tr. Ramakrishnan, male aged 35, S/O Devaraj, No. 82-B, South Mada Veethi, Villivakkam, Chennai-49 is a Drug Offender as contemplated under Section 2(e) of the Tamil Nadu Act 14 of 1982 and that with a view to preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order, it is necessary to make the following order. Now therefore in exercise of the powers conferred on me by sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ce, there is real possibility of his coming out on bail in the above case by filing a bail application before the higher courts. If he comes out on bail he will indulge in further activities, which will be prejudicial to the maintenance of public health and order. Further the recourse to normal criminal law would not have the desired effect of effectively preventing him from indulging in such activities, which are prejudicial to the maintenance of public health and order. On the materials placed before me, I am fully satisfied that the said Thiru. Ramakrishnan is also a Drug Offender and that there is a compelling necessity to detain him in order to prevent him from indulging in such further activities in future which are prejudicial to the maintenance of public order under the provisions of Tamil Nadu Act 14 of 1982. A perusal of the above statement in para 4 of the grounds of detention shows that no details have been given about the alleged similar cases in which bail was allegedly granted by the concerned court. Neither the date of the alleged bail orders has been mentioned therein, nor the bail application number, nor whether the bail orders were passed in respect of the co- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... likelihood of the accused being released on bail, because it is the normal practice of most courts that if a co-accused has been granted bail and his case is on the same footing as that of the petitioner, then the petitioner is ordinarily granted bail. However, the respondent authority should have given details about the alleged bail order in similar cases, which has not been done in the present case. A mere ipse dixit statement in the grounds of detention cannot sustain the detention order and has to be ignored. In our opinion, the detention order in question only contains ipse dixit regarding the alleged imminent possibility of the accused coming out on bail and there was no reliable material to this effect. Hence, the detention order in question cannot be sustained. Moreover, even if a bail application of the petitioner relating to the same case was pending in a criminal case the detention order can still be challenged on various grounds e.g. that the act in question related to law and order and not public order, that there was no relevant material on which the detention order was passed, that there was mala fides, that the order was not passed by a competent authority, tha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd himself has been elaborately explained by this Court in A.S. Mohd. Rafi Vs. State of Tamilnadu, AIR 2011 SC 308, and in Md. Sukur Ali Vs. State of Assam, JT 2011 (2) SC 527. As observed by Mr Justice Sutherland of the U.S. Supreme Court in Powell Vs. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45 (1932) Even the intelligent and educated layman has small and sometimes no skill in the science of law , and hence, without a lawyer he may be convicted though he is innocent. Article 22(1) of the Constitution makes it a fundamental right of a person detained to consult and be defended by a lawyer of his choice. But Article 22(3) specifically excludes the applicability of clause (1) of Article 22 to cases of preventive detention. Therefore, we must confine the power of preventive detention to very narrow limits, otherwise the great right to liberty won by our Founding Fathers, who were also freedom fighters, after long, arduous, historical struggles, will become nugatory. In State of of Maharashtra Ors. Vs. Bhaurao Punjabrao Gawande, (2008) 3 SCC 613 (para 23) this Court observed : ...Personal liberty is a precious right. So did the Founding Fathers believe because, while their first object was to give ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ntion is preventive not punitive. The truth of the matter, though, is that in substance a detention order of one year (or any other period) is a punishment of one year's imprisonment. What difference is it to the detenu whether his imprisonment is called preventive or punitive? Mr. Altaf Ahmed, learned senior counsel for the respondents, submitted that there are very serious allegations against the detenu of selling expired drugs after removing the original labels and printing fresh labels to make them appear as though they are not expired drugs. In this connection, criminal cases are already going on against the detenu under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code as well as under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and if he is found guilty, he will be convicted and given appropriate sentence. In our opinion, the ordinary law of the land was sufficient to deal with this situation, and hence, recourse to the preventive detention law was illegal. Mr. Altaf Ahmed, learned senior counsel, further submitted that the impugned detention order was passed on 08.04.2010, and the bail application of the detenu was also dismissed on the same date. Hence, he submitted that it cannot b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the matter, and we should not interfere with the preventive detention orders passed in cases where serious crimes have been committed. We do not agree. Prevention detention is, by nature, repugnant to democratic ideas and an anathema to the rule of law. No such law exists in the USA and in England (except during war time). Since, however, Article 22(3)(b) of the Constitution of India permits preventive detention, we cannot hold it illegal but we must confine the power of preventive detention within very narrow limits, otherwise we will be taking away the great right to liberty guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution of India which was won after long, arduous, historic struggles. It follows, therefore, that if the ordinary law of the land (Indian Penal Code and other penal statutes) can deal with a situation, recourse to a preventive detention law will be illegal Whenever an order under a preventive detention law is challenged one of the questions the court must ask in deciding its legality is : Was the ordinary law of the land sufficient to deal with the situation ? If the answer is in the affirmative, the detention order will be illegal. In the present case, the charge ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (Indian Penal Code or other penal statutes) will not be able to deal with the situation, then, and only then, can the preventive detention law be taken recourse to. Hence, the observation in para 34 in Haradhan Saha's case (supra) cannot be regarded as an unqualified statement that in every case where a person is liable to be tried, or is actually being tried, for a crime in a criminal court a detention order can also be passed under a preventive detention law. It must be remembered that in cases of preventive detention no offence is proved and the justification of such detention is suspicion or reasonable probability, and there is no conviction which can only be warranted by legal evidence. Preventive detention is often described as a 'jurisdiction of suspicion', (Vide State of Maharashtra Vs. Bhaurao Punjabrao Gawande, (supra) - para 63). The detaining authority passes the order of detention on subjective satisfaction. Since clause (3) of Article 22 specifically excludes the applicability of clauses (1) and (2), the detenu is not entitled to a lawyer or the right to be produced before a Magistrate within 24 hours of arrest. To prevent misuse of this potentially dangerous p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 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. The stringency and concern of judicial vigilance that is needed was aptly described in the following words in Thomas Pacham Dale's case, (1881) 6 QBD 376, : Then comes the question upon the habeas corpus. It is a general rule, which has always been acted upon by the Courts of England, that if any person procures the imprisonment of another he must take care to do so by steps, all of which are entirely regular, and that if he fails to follow every step in the process with extreme regularity the court will not allow the imprisonment to continue. For the reasons given above, this Appeal is allowed, the impugned order is set aside and the impugned detention order is quashed. However, we make it clear that this will not affect the criminal cases pending against the alleged accused. We further direct that the concerned detenu in this Appeal shall be released forthwith if not required in any other case. CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 756 of 2011; CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 757 of 2011; CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 759 of 2011; CRIMINAL A ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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