CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has quashed the detention of a person under Goondas Act because of the procedural flaws by the Puducherry government.
The court cautioned the government to be more careful in future so that persons who disrupt peace and tranquillity of the community are effectively detained in prison using the law. It allowed a Habeas Corpus petition from Padmavathi, wife of the detenu Senthil alias Ramesh. It said the detenu, presently detained in Central Prison, Puducherry, is directed to be set at liberty forthwith unless his detention is required in connection with any other case. The court said the government failed to give a proper consideration to a representation filed by the detenu and abdicated its powers by merely asking him to approach the advisory board.
“If only the State government had properly applied its mind to the correct legal position and shown greater concern and anxiety while exercising the power of preventive detention, the infirmity vitiating the detention of the petitioner could have been easily avoided,” the court observed.