2019 Supreme(J&K) 378
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR AT SRINAGAR
Ali Mohammad Magrey, J.
Tariq Ahmad Malik - Appellant
Versus
State of J&K and Anr. - Respondents
HCP No.91 of 2019 [WP(Crl) 91 of 2019]
Decided On : 11-10-2019
For the Petitioner:Petitioner present in person
For the Respondent: Mr. N.H. Shah, Sr. AAG.
Headnote:
Constitution of India, 1950 - Article 22 - Public Safety Act - Section 15 - Non-supply of relevant material/ documents - Insufficiency of supply of material - Petition is thrown to Order passed by District Magistrate – respondent herein placing preventive detention Tariq Ahmad District with view to preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to security of State and has been lodged in District Jail – Held As per settled position of law if detention order is issued on more than one ground independent of each or detention order will survive even if one of grounds is found to be unfound or legally unsustainable - In present case detention order is issued on more than one ground independent of each or detention order does not get vitiated even if one of grounds taken in support of petition is turns affirmative - My this view is fortified by a law laid down by Supreme Court in case titled Union of India and reported - next ground taken by detenu that detaining authority did not record as to under which compelling reasons detenu is required to be kept in custody under preventive laws when he was already in jail and was not released even granted bail - court has already held that detention survives even if one of grounds taken in support of petition remains unexplained or proves to be bad in law detention order can be maintained in absence of any explanation on this count by respondents – Petition dismissed
JUDGMENT :
1. Challenge in this petition is thrown to Order No. 75/DMA/PSA/DET/18 dated 02.03.2019, passed by the District Magistrate, Anantnag– respondent No.2 herein (for short “detaining authority”) placing under preventive detention Tariq Ahmad Malik S/o Nazir Ahmad Malik R/o Danwathpora Kokernag, District Anantnag (for short the “detenu”) with a view to preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the State and has been lodged in District Jail Kathua.
2. The detenu, through his father, challenges the aforesaid detention order through the medium of aforesaid petition, inter alia, on the grounds that the order of detention suffers from non-application of mind;
“(a)that no compelling reason or circumstance was disclosed in the order or grounds of detention to take the detenu in preventive detention, moreso in view of the fact that as on the date of passing of the aforesaid order of detention, the detenu was already implicated in 27/2014 and 31/2018.
(b)that there is total non application of mind while passing the detention order without reflecting any plausible ground.
(c)that the detenu has not been provided the material forming basis of the detention order, to make an effective representation against his detention order;
(d)that the detaining authority has not prepared the grounds itself, which is a pre-requisite for him before passing any detention order.”
(e)that while passing the order of detention against the detenu, the respondent no.2 has violated all the procedural safeguards enshrined in Art. 22 (5) of the Constitution of India.”
(g)that the allegations made in the grounds of detention are vague, non-existent and no prudent man can make a representation against such allegations and passing of detention order on such grounds is unjustified and unreasonable.”
3. Notice was issued to respondents. They appeared through their learned counsel and filed counter affidavit wherein they submitted that the detention order is well founded in fact and seeks dismissal of the Heabus Corpus petition.
4. The petitioner has raised primarily three issues before the Court questioning the validity of the detention. The first point taken by the petitioner is that the detention order was passed while the detenu was already in custody in respect of the criminal case in the aforesaid FIRs. In these circumstances, it was submitted by the petitioner, the detaining authority ought to have satisfied himself with the fact that there was imminent likelihood of release of the detenu in that case and that it was necessary to detain the detenu in order to prevent him from indulging in prejudicial activities. According to the petitioner-detenu, there is no such satisfaction recorded in the grounds of detention. He placed reliance on the decision of the Supreme Court in the case titled, “Anant v. State of Maharashtra reported as AIR 1987 Supreme Court, 137; Surya Prakash Sharma v. State of U.P. and others: 2017 (II) SLJ 650; AIR 1999 Supreme Court 3051; 1994 SCC (Cri) 1691; 2007 (I) SLJ 136, to submit that since the said satisfaction was not recorded, the detention order was vitiated.
5. The second point taken by the learned counsel for the petitioner was that non-supply of relevant material/ documents also vitiated the detention order. In this context, it was the case of the petitioner- detenu that no documents at all were supplied to the petitioner-detenu. The non-supply of relevant documents seriously undermines the capacity of a detenu to make an effective representation against the detention order and that itself would be a ground to declare the detention void.
6. The third point raised by the petitioner-detenu was based on vagueness in grounds of detention.
7. The petitioner (detenu) further submits that the detenu has not been provided the material referred to in the grounds of detention resultantly the right of making effective representation against the impugned order of detention, as enshrined under Article 22 (3) of the Const