Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court has upheld the first ever detention order passed by the Hyderabad city police commissioner after the Telangana state came into existence.
The police commissioner on August 6, 2014 passed an order Section 3(2) of the AP Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Dacoits, Drug Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Land Grabbers Act, 1986 to detain Mohammed Yousuf alias Junglee Yousuf , an history sheeter of Habeebnagar police station, in Chanchalguda Central prison for a period of one year.
The detention order was approved by the TS government following the recommendation of state advisory board and issued the GO on September 29, 2014.
Wife of the detenu moved the court contending that the order was not sustainable, as it violates the Constitutional rights guaranteed under Article 22 (4) of the Constitution and it also suffers from procedural violations and from non-application of the mind.
The petitioner submitted that the commissioner relied on the ground that as many as 26 crimes registered against her husband, but he ignored the fact that out of 26 offences only in 5 cases the trial is pending and all the rest of the cases are already disposed off.
H. Venugopal, counsel for the Home department relying on the decision of the Supreme Court in D.M. Nagaraja versus Government of Karnataka, submitted that the detenu had been acquitted some cases , it is subjective satisfaction of the detaining authority that in spite of his continuous activities causing threat to maintenance of public order.
After hearing the arguments, Justice Vilas V. Afzulpurkar held that if the detention authority felt that the ordinary process of law for penal offences is not yielding any results in checking the series of incidents involving the detenu, the authority has right to pass an order for prevention detention.
The judge observed that criminal activities of the detenu clearly show his habitual nature, though 7 of the crimes are compromised or acquitted, keeping in view the terror and fear created by him in the minds of public.
The judge said “it is natural that no witnesses are coming forward resulting in the detenu getting acquitted and continuing his activities unabated”.
