TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1994 (8) TMI 267
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....him from smuggling goods. On getting information about the making of the order the appellant filed a writ petition + From the Judgment and Order dated 1-10-1990 of the Bombay High Court in W.P. Crl. No.1083 of 1990 in the Bombay High Court challenging the same and having failed there moved this Court by filing the special leave petition. To the petition the appellant has annexed, amongst other documents, purported copies of the order of detention and the grounds on which it is based though it is not quite clear how he came by them. The respondents, however, contend that the appellant obtained those copies clandestinely for they were to be served upon him only on detention. However, this aspect of the matter need not detain us as the respond....
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....lved in the transactions. Another statement made by the appellant on 24-5-1990 regarding his modus operandi of smuggling the gold has next been incorporated in the grounds of detention. The grounds of detention then recite that on 24-5-1990 the appellant was arrested and on 25-5-1990, when he was produced before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Bombay, he made a statement. The statement so made has also been reproduced in the grounds of detention. 6. The appellant's version of the incident as disclosed in that statement is that after he was brought down from the aircraft, he was allowed to take out his baggage and then leave the airport. While he was waiting outside he was brought back and taken to the SDO's office where he ....
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....n individual to safeguard the interest of the society and on a conspectus of the decisions of this Court and of different High Courts on the subject, answered the question with the following words: (SCC pp. 520-21, para 30) "... it is not correct to say that the courts have no power to entertain grievances against any detention order prior to its execution. The courts have the necessary power and they have used it in proper cases as has been pointed out above, although such cases have been few and the grounds on which the courts have interfered with them at the preexecution stage are necessarily very limited in scope and number, viz., where the courts are prima facie satisfied (i) that the impugned order is not passed under the Act under....
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....icates that the doctor found some bruises and abrasions on his person and he complained of pain on his body. Mr Jethmalani then drew our attention to the fact that though the appellant was apprehended in the early hours of 225-1990 and was thus constitutionally and statutorily required to be produced before the nearest Magistrate latest by 23-5-1990 he was kept unlawfully detained till 25-5-1990 when the customs authorities produced him in court. Mr Jethmalani submitted that as these facts unmistakably demonstrated the misuse and abuse of extraordinary constitutional powers by the State machinery this Court would not allow the liberty of a victim of exercise of such powers to be taken away even if the parameters mentioned in Alka Subhash Ga....
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....n that the detention order was passed "for a wrong purpose", namely, to harass and humiliate the appellant by concocting a false case of smuggling, based primarily on a confession obtained from him after subjecting him to assault, illegal detention and extortion we find that the detaining authority has denied the allegations of assault and extortion. Needless to say these are disputed questions of fact, which we cannot entertain much less delve into or decide upon. In any case, the said fact, even if true cannot vitiate the order of detention. As regards the allegation of illegal detention, the respondents have drawn our attention to the following lines in paragraphs 10 of their affidavit-in-reply: 2 (1992) 3 SCC 512: 1992 SCC (Cri) 683 ....
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....smuggling made against the appellant would be borne out by the photographs which were taken at the instance of the Customs Officers at the time of the appellant's apprehension as they would clearly show that it was impossible for him to zip up his trousers, with three belts tied, each containing 60 pieces of gold, weighing 10 tolas each, around his waist. Though this factual submission was not a relevant consideration at this stage in the context of the principles laid down in Alka Subhash Gadia1 we had, to satisfy our judicial conscience, called for and saw all the photographs carefully. Having done so we are constrained to say that Mr Jethmalani's submission in this regard was based on wrong instructions. 13. Mr Jethmalani lastly submi....