The main legal point established in the judgment is the importance of complying with the statutory mandate of communicating the grounds for preventive detention to the detenu within the specified time frame, as prescribed under Section 8(1) of Act 14 of 1982.

JUDGMENT

(Prayer: Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a writ of habeas corpus calling for the records of the detention made in D.O.No.67/2022 C-2 dated 26.07.2022 passed by the District Collector and District Magistrate Thiruvannamalai District the 2nd respondent herein and set aside the same and direct the respondents to produce the detenue before this Court and set the detenu Thiru.Murugan, son of Settu aged 27 years now confined in Central Prison, Vellore at liberty.)

M. Sundar, J.

1. Captioned ''Habeas Corpus Petition'' [''HCP'' for the sake of brevity] has been filed by the mother of detenu assailing a ''preventive detention order dated 26.07.2022 bearing reference D.O.No.67/2022-C2'' [hereinafter ''impugned detention order'' for the sake of convenience and brevity]. To be noted, fourth respondent is the sponsoring authority and second respondent is the detaining authority as impugned detention order has been made by second respondent.

2. Impugned detention order has been made under ''The Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Cyber law offenders, Drug-offenders, Forest-offenders, Goondas, Immoral traffic offenders, Sand-offenders, Sexual-offenders, Slum-grabbers and Video Pirates Act, 1982 (Tamil Nadu Act No.14 of 1982)'' [hereinafter ''Act 14 of 1982'' for the sake of convenience and clarity] on the premise that the detenu is a ''Sexual Offender'' within the meaning of Section 2(ggg) of Act 14 of 1982.

3. There is no adverse case. The ground case which is the sole substratum of the impugned detention order is Crime No.241 of 2022 on the file of Thanipadi Police Station for alleged offences under Sections 5(1), 5(j)(ii) read with 6, 21(1) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act [hereinafter ''POCSO Act'' for the sake of convenience and clarity] and Sections 312, 314, 315 read with 109 of ''The Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860)'' [hereinafter ''IPC'' for the sake of convenience and clarity]. Owing to the nature of the challenge to the impugned detention order, it is not necessary to delve into the factual matrix or be detained further by facts.

4. Mr.R.Balakrishnan, learned counsel on record for petitioner and Mr.E.Raj Thilak, learned State Additional Public Prosecutor for all respondents are before us.

5. Notwithstanding very many averments made in the support affidavit Mr.R.Balakrishnan, learned counsel for petitioner submits that the grounds on which the impugned detention order has been made has not been served within five days from the date of detention. Learned counsel submits that the formal date of detention qua impugned detention order is 26.07.2022. Learned counsel also points out that the grounds on which the impugned detention order has been made was communicated to the detenu only on 02.08.2022 at 16.30 hours. In support of his contention, learned counsel placed before us the grounds which was served on the detenu in the form of a booklet. A scanned reproduction of the relevant portion in the booklet is as follows:

6.Learned counsel submits that the above is an infraction of Section 8(1) of Act 14 of 1982 which mandates that the grounds on which the detention order is made ought to be communicated to the detenu as soon as may be, but not later than five days from the date of detention. Elaborating on his submission in this direction, learned counsel submitted that this has afflicted the statutory mandate of affording the detenu earliest opportunity of making a representation to the State Government against the impugned order of detention.

7. On Section 8(1) of Act 14 of 1982, we have already taken a view interalia vide order dated 19.01.2023 in H.C.P.No.1182 of 2022 reported in neutral citation of Madras High Court being 2023/MHC/193 [M.Shylaja Vs. The Additional Chief Secretary to Government and others ] and series of other HCP matters [we are informed that this has been reported in SCC online also and the citation is 2023 SCC Online Mad