Allahabad High Court quashes NSA detention of man who protested against State government policies

The Allahabad High Court recently quashed a detention order issued under the National Security Act, on the ground that there was an unexplained of four days in disposing of the detenue's representation by the Central government (Sonu @ Mohd. Ishtiyaq Through Mother Shameem v. Union of India)..A Bench of Justices Ramesh Sinha and Saroj Yadav allowed the habeas corpus plea and held,"In the affidavit filed on behalf of Union of India the delay on 19.06.2021 and 20.06.2021 has been explained, but the affidavit is silent on the delay of 21.06.2021 to 24.06.2021. Thus delay of four days has not been explained. Thus on account of unexplained delay of four days on the part of Union of India, the continuation of the preventive detention sands vitiated.".It was alleged that the accused Sonu, along with others, were armed with deadly weapons while protesting against the policies of the State government and the illegal encroachment in a Tehsil compound, which they tried to forcibly enter. When police personnel tried to restrain them, they became aggressive and attacked the police with lathi, danda, bricks, stones and sharp edged weapons. Further, it was alleged that accused persons assaulted the police personnel with an intention to commit murder, hurled abuses and ripped their uniforms. They also caused damages to vehicles. Accordingly, all the accused persons were arrested and a case was registered against them..Sonu was charged under a host of sections under the Indian Penal Code including attempt to murder, as well as Section 7 of Criminal Law Amendment Act and Sections 3 and 25 of the Arms Act. After he was granted bail by a court, proceedings under National Security Act (NSA) were initiated against him in order to restrain him from "creating trouble which may result in the collapse of public order." To this end, a detention order under the NSA was passed on April 11, 2021..Counsel for petitioner submitted before the High Court that there was an undue delay in disposal of his representation on the part of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs as the representation dated May 18, 2021, had been decided by the concerned authority on June 25, 2021, after a delay of more than a month..Initially, the Court noted that there was no delay on the part of the State government in deciding the representation of the detenue. On the other hand, it noted that the representation of the detenue dated May 18, 2021 along with the para-wise comments of the detaining authority were processed for consideration by the Union Home Secretary on June 18, 2021. The same was rejected and the detenue was informed of the rejection on June 25, 2021..Given the delay, the Court allowed the habeas corpus petition and quashed the detention order. Before parting with its verdict, the Court noted a finding in the case of Abdul Nasar Adam Ismail v. State of Maharashtra, in which the Supreme Court held,"...Article 22(5) of the Constitution casts a legal obligation on the Government to consider the detenu’s representation as early as possible. Though no time limit is 15 prescribed for disposal of the representation, the constitutional imperative is that it must be disposed of as soon as possible. There should be no supine indifference, slackness or callous attitude. Any unexplained delay would be a breach of constitutional imperative and it would render the continued detention of the detenu illegal...".[Read order]