Point of law: Now the law, as it stands, is that even one solitary incident may give rise to the disturbance of 'public order'. It is not the multiplicity but the fall out of various criminal acts. Though there is consistency in the various decisions of the apex Court about the interpretation of the expressions of 'law and order' and 'public order' undue insistence on the case law is not going to pay any dividend as each case revolves round its own peculiar facts and has to be viewed in the light of the various attending factors. The stand that a single act cannot be considered sufficient for holding that public order was affected is clearly without substance. It is not the number of acts that matters. What has to be seen is the effect of the act on the even tempo of life, the extent of its reach upon society and its impact.

JUDGMENT :

Ramesh Sinha, J.

1. The instant Habeas Corpus Petition under Article 226 of Constitution of India has been filed by the petitioner, Rajeev Singh, through his next friend/wife Smt. Kiran Singh, challenging the validity and correctness of the order of detention dated 25.10.2020 passed by the District Magistrate, Hardoi (respondent no.2) (hereinafter referred to as “Detaining Authority”) under Sub-section (2) of Section 3 of the National Security Act, 1980 (hereinafter referred to as “Act, 1980”) contained in Annexure No.2 to the writ petition on being satisfied that the detention of the petitioner was necessary with a view to prevent him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order as well as confirmation order dated 08.12.2020 passed by the Under Secretary, Home (Confidential) Department, Government of U.P., Lucknow (respondent no.2) contained in Annexure No.1 to the writ petition.

2. Heard Shri Pawan Kumar Pandey, learned Counsel for the petitioner/detenue and Shri S.P. Singh, learned Additional Government Advocate for the State and perused the material brought on record.

3. No one is present on behalf of the Union of India to press this petition.

4. The order of detention along with grounds of detention was served upon the petitioner on 25.10.2020 in jail, while he was in jail in a criminal case. Against the said order of detention, the petitioner made a representation dated 10.11.2020 to the Detaining Authority, the Secretary, Department of Home and another representation to the Advisory Board constituted under Section 9 of the Act, 1981. The State Government, in exercise of powers conferred under Section 12 (1) of the Act, 1981, has confirmed the order of detention and directed that the petitioner be detained for a period of three months from the date of detention vide order dated 29.10.2020, which was communicated to the petitioner on 10.11.2020.

5. It transpires from the grounds of detention that in the night of 31.08.2020/01.09.2020, Baba Heeradas, his disciple Meeradas and his son Netram were brutally murdered by suffocating and assaulting them with bricks, stones, rolling board, knife and butt of country made pistol in Hulasi Bagiya Aashram near Kumaon Village. On account of the said incident, the public order was completely breached and attempts were made to spread religious fanaticism by various social organizations and political parties.

6. On the basis of written report of Om Shankar in respect of the aforesaid incident, an F.I.R. was lodged, which was registered as Case Crime No. 353 of 2020, under Section 302 I.P.C. against unknown persons, at Police Station Tadiyawa, District Hardoi on 01.09.2020. During investigation, it came into light that the main accused for murdering three deceased persons is Rakshpal, who used to stay at Ashram. On the clue of the informer, main accused Rakshpal was arrested by the police on 02.09.2020 at about 04:30 P.M. near Badauli Petrol Pump and on his interrogation, he admitted his guilt in murdering three deceased persons and narrated the story in detail to the police and disclosed the names of Sanjay and Shafiq in their connection of murder of the deceased persons and also disclosed the name of Rajiv Kumar Singh (petitioner herein) and his brother Hariram in connection of preparing forged ‘Will deed’. Immediately thereafter, on the pointing out of Rakshpal, the police had recovered forged ‘Will deed’, blood stained brick, blood stained knife and T-Shirt. Thereafter, the associate of Rakshpal, namely, Sanjay, was also arrested and on his pointing out, blood stained brick was also recovered. On 07.09.2020, the accused Shafiq was arrested, whereas on 21.09.2020, accused Hariram was arrested.

7. During investigation, the confessional statements of accused persons including the petitioner were recorded. All the accused in their statements admitted the fact that it was Rajiv Singh (petitioner herein), who made conspiracy in making forged ‘Will’ in