Judgment

KHANNA, J.:- This is a petition through jail under Article 32 of the Constitution of India for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus by Bidhan Chandra Biswas who has been ordered to be detained by the District Magistrate, 24 Parganas under Section 3 of the West Bengal (Prevention of Violent Activities) Act, 1970 (President s Act No. 19 of 1970).

2. According to the order of detention which was passed by the District Magistrate on April 3, 1971, the order was made as it was considered necessary to prevent the petitioner from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order. The petitioner in pursuance of the detention order was arrested on April 25, 1971 as earlier, according to the affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents, he was found to be absconding. Grounds of the detention were served upon the petitioner on the day he was arrested. In the meanwhile, on April 8, 1971 the District Magistrate sent a report to the State Government about the passing of the detention order along with the grounds of detention and other necessary particulars. The said report and particulars were considered by the State Government and the order of detention was approved on April 13, 1971. The same day the State Government submitted a report to the Central Government along with the grounds of detention and other necessary particulars. On May 24, 1971 the State Government placed the case of the petitioner before the Advisory Board. A representation dated May 31, 1971 was received by the State Government from the petitioner on June 4, 1971. The State Government considered the representation and rejected the same on July 1, 1971. The representation was also forwarded to the Advisory Board. The Advisory Board after considering the material placed before it as well as the representation and after hearing the petitioner in person, submitted its report to the State Government on July 3, 1971. Opinion was expressed by the Advisory Board that there was sufficient cause for the detention of the petitioner. By an order dated July 16, 1971 the State Government confirmed the detention order.

3. The petition has been resisted by the respondents and the affidavit of Shri Manoranjan Dey, Assistant Secretary, Home (Special) Department, Government of West Bengal has been filed in opposition to the petition.

4. We have heard Mr. Goswami who has argued the case amicus curiae on behalf of the petitioner and Mr. Mukherjee on behalf of the respondents and are of the opinion that there is no merit in the petition. Mr. Goswami has invited our attention to the grounds of detention which were supplied to the petitioner and read as under:

"(1) On 1-2-71, at about 10.35 hours you and some of your associates being armed with daggers and other sharp-cutting weapons made murderous attack on Sachindra Nath Banerji, Advocate, Basirhat Court, while he was proceeding to Basirhat Court and thereby created panic, and terror in the locality, Shri Banerji sustained grievous injuries.

(2) On 11-2-71, at about 18.30 hours, you and some of your associates exploded bombs at Surya Kanta Park, P. S. Basirhat, where an election meeting was in progress and caused injuries to some of the persons and disrupted the meeting. By this Act you created considerable panic in the locality which was likely to disturb the public order."

It is urged by Mr. Goswami that reports were lodged with the Police in respect of the two incidents mentioned in the grounds of detention. It is urged that the Investigating Officer after investigating the cases relating to those incidents submitted a report that "nothing could be had against the petitioner . The petitioner was, therefore, discharged in those cases. The order of detention, in the circumstances, according to the learned counsel, should be held to be mala fide.

5. We find that no ground was taken by the petitioner in the petition under Article 32 of the Constitution regarding the Police reports and his discharge in the two cases. Refe