Jammu & Kashmir High Court: A Single Judge Bench of Rashid Ali Dar, J., allowed a petition filed against the order of District Magistrate, Anantnag, under Section 8 of the J&K Public Safety Act, whereby the petitioner was placed under preventive detention.
The main issue that arose before the Court was whether the order passed by the detaining authority was good in law.
The Court observed that even though the petitioner was granted bail in the concerned criminal case, he was not released, rather he was taken into custody vide the impugned detention order. In the detention order there is no mention of bail which was granted to the petitioner and hence it can be fairly concluded that there was non-application of mind on the part of detaining authorities. The Court further observed that the materials which formed the basis of detention order were not supplied to the petitioner. The Court then referred to the Supreme Court judgment of Thahira Haris v. Government of Karnataka, (2009) 11 SCC 438, wherein it was held that in cases where documents forming ground for detention are not supplied to the detenue, the order of detention becomes illegal.
The Court held that the order of detention passed by the detaining authorities was illegal since there was non-application of mind while passing the order and the materials that formed the very basis of such an order were not supplied to the petitioner. Non-supply of materials rendered the petitioner helpless in filing an appropriate representation against such an order and it also violated the fundamental right of petitioner guaranteed to him under Article 22(5) and (6) of the Constitution of India. Resultantly, the order of detention was quashed and the petition was allowed. [Subeel Javid v. State of J&K,2018 SCC OnLine J&K 758, order dated 23-10-2018]