Arrest intimation sent via SMS: HC quashes Goondas against youth

CHENNAI: Observing that personal liberty protected under Article 21 is so sacrosanct and so high in the constitutional values, a division bench of the Madras High Court quashed a detention order passed against a Chennai youth under the Goondas Act on the ground that the police sent the detention intimation to the mother of the deteneu only through the SMS.

The court held that as evidenced from the document of the booklet furnished by the police, a mere endorsement is made by the authorities to the effect that the arrest intimation has been informed to the mother of the detenu through SMS, “but, no materials have been furnished to substantiate that the said intimation was sent through Thapal or registered post or as per the procedure laid down.”

The bench comprising Justice PN Prakash and Justice RMT Teekaa Raman passed the orders on allowing a habeas corpus petition filed by K Ramani, mother of the detenue K Sathya aka Sathya Kumar (26).

The petitioner prayed for a direction to quash the detention order passed by the Tambaram Commissioner on February 10 under the Goondas Act against her son.

The judges also ruled that the non-furnishing of details given to the mother of the detenu would amount to a deprivation of the right of the detenu.

“It is the obligation of the detaining authority to show that the impugned detention meticulously accords with the procedure established by law. Preventive detention is preventive and not punitive. When ordinary law of the land is sufficient to deal with, taking recourse to the preventive detention law is illegal. Therefore the detention order is liable to be quashed,” the court observed.

The court directed the authorities to release the detenue immediately.