COIMBATORE: The State government recently rescinded the order detaining a member of a Hindu outfit under the Goondas Act by Coimbatore city police in November 2021, on the grounds that police did not send it to the government within the prescribed time limit for approval.
Members of Akila Bharatha Hindu Maha Sabha, led by Kongu Division youth wing president S Premkumar alias Boxer Prem, staged a protest in the city on 23 October 2021, to condemn the attack on Hindus in Bangladesh. Racecourse police registered a case under sections 143, 269, 153 (A)(a) and 505 (2) of IPC and arrested Prem on October 28.
He was remanded till November 6, 2021, and secured conditional bail on November 11 from the court of JM III in Coimbatore. On 18 November, Coimbatore city police invoked Goondas Act, against him through a warrant of arrest.
However, he went absconding. Three months later, on 10 March 2022, police detained him under the Goondas Act and lodged him in the district jail in Tiruppur. A warrant of arrest, detention order and copies of case materials were served on him. The then Commissioner of Police sent the order to the government on March 15 for approval.
But as per section 3 (3) of the Tamil Nadu Act, no such order shall remain in force for more than 12 days after making thereof, unless in the meantime it has been approved by the State government. So it was cancelled by the government and the suspect Prem was released from the prison, said sources.
"The 12 days period ended on November 29 within which it ought to have been approved by the government. The suspect was not secured and the detention order was not served to him within 12 days and no proposal was sent to the government within 12 days for approval. Hence the detention order lost its validity and become inoperative," said the order.
A senior police official said the delay could be due to a procedural lapse as there was a shuffle in the top official's level during that time. We are checking the facts, he added.