HYDERABAD: Pointing out that the detaining authorities are not following the procedure contemplated under the provisions of the law, a division bench of the High Court has ordered the district collectors and police officers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states to study the legal provisions, Constitution and judgments of the Supreme Court and High Court while passing orders for detention of habitual offenders.
The bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Dilip B Bhosale and Justice SV Bhatt, was setting aside a detention order passed by the Chittoor district collector detaining a notorious red sanders smuggler, C Goundar Mani, under the Dacoits, Drug Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Land Grabbers Act, 1986.
“We have come across several detention orders in the last few months. On most of the petitions, we have set aside detention orders on technical grounds as is happening in the present case,” the bench observed.
The bench pointed out that detaining authorities were not following the procedure contemplated under the provisions of the Act 1986 or Article 22 of the Constitution or the procedure laid down in various judgments by the Supreme Court and this court. The police stations concerned, which register offences against the detainees, do not complete the probe for a variety of reasons and file charge sheets within the time stipulated under Section 167 of CrPC. The moment a detention order is passed against the accused, the intensity or force to carry on further investigation and to file charge sheet within the stipulated time diminishes, the bench noted.
While terming the approach of the investigating agencies as absolutely callous and casual, the bench said that the police were also failing to oppose the bails in trial court by informing it that the accused/detainee was a repeat offender.
The bench told the authorities to study the judgments of this court in the cases of G Archana and B Hima Bindu and find out where they went wrong and why detention orders were set aside. The courts below, unknowingly or without looking into the law laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of repeat offenders, were granting bails on merits, the bench further said.
While disposing of the petition, the bench directed the registrar (judicial) to forward copies of this judgment along with the judgments in the case of G Archana and B Hima Bindu to all principal district judges with a direction to circulate it to all judges in their respective district and also to the DGPs of AP and Telangana.