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2003 Supreme(Bom) 1178

IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY
Smt. Desai Ranjana Kakade P.V., JJ.
Harish Khetri Dip @ Depak .... Petitioner.
Versus
M.N. Singh, Commissioner of Police others.... Respondents.
Criminal Writ Petition No. 437 of 2003, decided on 10-10-2003.
Advocates appeared :
U.N. Tripathi, for petitioner.
D.S. Mhaispurkar, A.P.P., for State.

Subject

Habeas Corpus - Violation of Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India

Act Referred

CONSTITUTION OF INDIA : Art.22(5)
MAHARASHTRA PREVENTION OF DANGEROUS ACTIVITIES OF SLUMLORDS, BOOTLEGGERS, DRUG OFFENDERS AND DANGEROUS PERSONS ACT : S.3(1)

Headnote

Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Slumlords, Bootleggers, Drug Offenders and Dangerous Persons Act, 1981 - Section 3 (1) - Section 3(1) - Detention order. - Since supply of copy of injury certificate of an associate, a vital document, without translation into language petitioner knew is a lapse hence order of detention is liable to be set aside.
JUDGMENT - SMT. DESAI RANJANA, J.:---The petitioner is detained under an order of detention dated 29-11-2002 issued by the Commissioner of Police, Brihan Mumbai, under the provisions of the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Slumlords, Bootleggers, Drug Offenders and Dangerous Persons Act, 1981 (for short, the MPDA Act). The order of detention, grounds of detention and the material in support thereof were served on the petitioner on or about 29-11-2002. In this petition, the petitioner has challenged the said order of detention.

2. Though several grounds have been agitated in the petition, Mr. Tripathi learned Counsel for the petitioner, has pressed only one ground viz., that the translation of injury certificate of Santosh R. Jadhav, which is supplied to the petitioner is incomplete and wrongly translated. It is stated that the grounds of detention indicate that the Detaining Authority had referred to and relied on a Criminal Case being C.R. No. 136 of 2002. The said case pertains to an incident dated 16-5-2002. In that incident, the said Santosh Jadhav sustained injuries on his head and face. Santosh Jadhav is said to be an associate of the petitioner. In the grounds of detention, it is stated that Santosh Jadhav had been man-handled and he sustained injury on his head and face. It is contended by Mr. Tripathi that because an incomplete and wrong translation of the said vital document viz., injury certificate of Santosh Jadhav was supplied to the petitioner, there is a violation of the petitioner's right under Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India. Mr. Tripathi urged that the petitioner was prevented from making an effective representation at the earliest and, therefore, the order of detention deserves to be set aside.

3. In support of this submission, Mr. Tripathi has relied on judgments of this Court in Criminal Writ Petition No. 25 of 1999 in (Farooq @ Firoz Hasan Bhagwan v. The Commissioner of Police, Greater Bombay)1, dated 20-7-1999 reported in 1999(Supp.) Bom.C.R. 597; Criminal Writ Petition No. 488 of 1999 in (Rajesh Satyanarayan Mishra v. R.H. Mendonca)2, dated 12-1-2000; (Mohammed Rafique Abdul Majid v. R.H. Mendonca and others)3, 1999(Supp.) Bom.C.R. 99 and (Soud Ahmed Jubber Khan v. O.P. Bali and others)4, 2000(5) Bom.C.R. 317.

4. In Farooq's case (supra), the Detaining Authority had relied upon the injury report of Noor Alam Khalil Khan, who was assaulted with a sword by the detenu. The Hindi translation of the said certificate was not supplied to the detenu. The detenu only knew Hindi. It was held by this Court that the order of detention was vitiated.

5. In Rajesh Satyanarayan Mishra's case (supra), incorrect translation of several documents was supplied to the detenu and, hence the order of detention was set aside. In our opinion, ratio of this judgment will have to be confined to the facts of that case. It is stated in that judgment that incorrect translation of several documents was supplied to the detenu. Moreover it is not clear as to what was the nature of those documents.

6. In Mohammed Rafique Abdul Majid's case (supra), admittedly, correct translation of injury certificate of one Abdul Kalam Javed Master was not supplied to the detenu. The complaint against the detenu was lodged by the said Abdul Kalam Javed Master. It was held that there was a violation of detenu's right under Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India and the order of detention was set aside.

7. In Soud Ahmed Jubber Khan's case (supra), the detenu was supplied with wrong translation of the grounds of detention. On a request made by the detenu, the detenu was supplied with second translation of the grounds of detention. The said translation was also not a complete translation. There were mistakes in the second translation also. It is in this context that this Court held that the order of detention was vitiated on account of violation of detenu's right under Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India. We are of the opin






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