HC rescues man from preventive detention

New Delhi, Feb 26 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today ordered to free a man, incarcerated in jail since October 27 last year, under preventive detention.

A division bench, headed by Justices Vikramjit Sena and P K Bhasin, set aside the detaining order passed by joint secretary to the Government of India Rashida Hussain on 27 December, 2007 after hearing a petition by Shashi Goyal for release of her husband B K Goyal.

The detenu's counsel Vikram Chaudhuri submitted before the court the arrest on October 29, 2007 and judicial remand till December 28, 2007. Ms Hussain issued an order on December 27 for Goyal to be detained lest he should smuggle goods in future.

Goyal had also been detained before.

Affording much significance on the order, the court said, ''arrest entitled the detenu to bail on expiry of 60 days. The detaining authority has shown her awareness on the grounds of detention that the possibility of detenu's release on bail in near future can't be ruled out,''.

''Previously detained with approval of the court, if a person continues the same illegal activity on release, reference to the previous detention would normally support and strengthen a fresh detention order. However, if a previous detention order has been struck down, the facts alone cannot support clamping down of a fresh detention order,'' the order mentioned further.

The court did not accept the sagacious argument of Additional solicitor general P P Malhotra that mention of the previous detention order had only intended to complete the factual matrix.

Dismissing the detaining authority, the court ordered, ''the extent to which the previous detention order has affected the thought-process of the detaining authority is certainly nebulous,''.

UNI SSS GL VC1913