LUCKNOW: While hearing habeas corpus writ petition, the Allahabad High Court quashed the detention of a person booked for rioting and arson under the National Security Act (NSA) pointing out “extraordinary haste” shown by state government in initiating action against the accused and denying him “the opportunity of a fair hearing in violation of established legal and procedural norms and constitutional protection”.
The order was delivered in response to the petition filed by one Javed Siddiqui challenging his detention under the NSA.
Directing the state authorities to release Siddiqui, who was held on July 10 for allegedly participating in a mob attack on Dalits in the Jaunpur district of eastern UP, the High Court observed that the executive must exercise the power to detain a person with extreme care.
The division bench comprising Justice Pritinker Diwaker and Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava slammed the district administration of Jaunpur for not arranging statutory representation of the accused before the NSA advisory board in Lucknow within the stipulated time. "...There was complete inaction on their part… This inaction on the part of the authorities certainly resulted in the deprivation of the right of the petitioner (to a hearing)," it said.
“Where the law confers extraordinary power on the executive to detain a person without recourse to the ordinary law of the land, and to trial by courts, such a law has to be strictly construed and the executive must exercise the power with extreme care,” said the court.
The bench said the law of preventive detention was not punitive, but only preventive, (and) it heavily affected the personal liberty of (an) individual, as enshrined in Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty) of the Constitution of India… “Therefore, the authority concerned is under obligation to pass a
detention order according to procedure established by law and ensure that constitutional safeguards have been followed," said the judged in the order.
The case against Siddiqui was registered on June 9 when a brawl involving children snowballed into a communal clash at Bhadethi village of Jaunpur. Over a dozen hutments belonging to Dalits were set ablaze by a mob of 80 men that police claimed included Siddiqui. He was also accused of hurling casteist
slurs. Siddiqui's arrest was on the basis of a detention order issued by the Jaunpur DM under Section 3(2) of the NSA.