JUDGMENT

KRISHNA IYER, J. (On behalf of himself and O. Chinnappa Reddy, J.) :— "When they arrested my neighbour I did not protest. When they arrested the men and women in the opposite house I did not protest. And when they finally came for me, there was nobody left to protest". *(1)

* 1. Pastor Niemoller.

This grim scenario burns into our judicial consciousness the moral emerging from the case being that if today freedom of one forlorn person falls to the police somewhere, tomorrow the freedom of many may fall elsewhere with none to whimper unless the court process invigilates in time and polices the police before it is too late. This futuristic thought, triggered off by a telegram from one Shukla, prisoner lodged in the Tihar Jail, has prompted the present habeas proceedings. The brief message he sent runs thus :

In spite of Court order and directions of your Lordship in Sunil Batra v. Delhi Admn. handcuffs are forced on me and others. Admit writ of Habeas Corpus.

Those who are injured to handcuffs and bar fetters on others may ignore this grievance, but the guarantee of human dignity, which forms part of our constitutional culture, and the positive provisions of Articles 14, 19 and 2