TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2010 (9) TMI 1217
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....y. On "liberty", William Shakespeare, the great play writer, has observed that "a man is master of his liberty". Benjamin Franklin goes even further and says that "any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both". The importance of protecting liberty and freedom is explained by the famous lawyer Clarence Darrow as "you can protect your liberties in this world only by protecting the other man's freedom; you can be free only if I am free." In India, the utmost importance is given to life and personal liberty of an individual, since we believe personal liberty is the paramount essential to human dignity and human happiness. The Constitution of India protects the liberty of an individual. Article 21 provides that no person shall be deprived of his life and personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. In matters of preventive detention such as this, as there is deprivation of liberty without trial, and subsequent safeguards are provided in Article 22 of the Constitution. They are, when any person is detained pursuant to an order made under any law providing for preventive detention, the authority m....
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....to the maintenance of public order. The Grounds also pointed out that the UNLF is an unlawful association (declared so vide Gazette of India Notification, under No. S.O. 1992(E), dated 13/11/2007) which looks to create an independent, sovereign State of Manipur by seceding from the Union of India, and that the said organization has involved itself in procuring arms and ammunitions from foreign countries, recruiting youngsters, and committing heinous crimes such as murder, dacoity, extortion, kidnapping for ransom etc. 7) Further, it is pointed out that on 17/09/2009 at 8 PM, a team of CDO/IW led by S.I. T. Khogen Singh came to the detenu's house as disclosed by Mr. Irom Priyobarta Singh, arrested him, and seized after observing due formality Rs. 10,04,000/- from him, as well as one Nokia handset from Mr. Irom Priyobarta Singh. An F.I.R. No. 183(9)09 SJM-P.S. was registered under Section 17/20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and the detenu was arrested on 18/09/2009 and remanded into police custody till 24/09/2009. On 24/09/2009, he was presented before the Magistrate for judicial remand, and the detention order passed by the District Magistrate, Imphal Wes....
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.... of public order and cause prejudice to the security of the State in any manner so as to have the NS Act invoked against him. 9) The Representation made by the detenu was rejected by State of Manipur on 03.10.2009. The Advisory Board constituted under Section 9 of the Act opined that there was sufficient cause for detention of the husband of the appellant under the National Security Act. The Governor of Manipur, in exercise of the power conferred under Section 12(1) of the Act, has approved the opinion expressed by the Advisory Board and has ordered that the detention of the husband of the appellant made by the District Magistrate, Imphal West District, dated 24.09.2009,and fixed the period of the detention for 12(twelve) months from the date of detention by his order dated 07.11.2009. There was delay in forwarding the Representation of the detenu to the Government of India. It was filed on 09/10/2009 and it was forwarded to the Central Government on 16/10/2009 by the State Government and received only on 28/10/2009, before being finally rejected by the Central Government on 03/11/2009. 10) The detention order was questioned before the Gauhati High Court in W.P. (Crl.) No.111....
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....h the order. 13) At the time of hearing, learned Counsel for the appellant Mr.Dolen Phurailatpam argued, that though a few days have remained for the detention period to expire, the appeal need not be disposed of as having become infructuous, since the reputation of the detenu is sacrosanct and the right of reputation is a facet of right to life under Article 21. He took considerable time explaining the factual background of the case. He pointed out that the printing press of the detenu was established only in 2006, and therefore, there could be no question of him having been involved in printing demand letters from 2003 or 2004. He further explained that there was no supportive material to sustain the detention order, and that the same had also been mentioned in the writ petition filed before the High Court. He also stressed the point of delay of forwarding the representation of the detenu, and that no adequate reasons for the same had been given by the respondents in either the affidavit or in the pleadings before the Court. 14) Per contra, the learned counsel for the State of Manipur Mr.Khwairakpam Nobin Singh urged the factual background on the basis of which the decision....
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....erial. We are concerned here not with the sufficiency of that material but with the existence of any relevant material at all." (emphasis supplied) (Para 3). 17) In Shafiq Ahmed v. District Magistrate, Meerut, (1989) 4 SCC 556, this Court opined :- "Preventive detention is a serious inroad into the freedom of individuals. Reasons, purposes and the manner of such detention must, therefore, be subject to closest scrutiny and examination by the courts." (emphasis supplied) (Para 5). This Court further added: "...there must be conduct relevant to the formation of the satisfaction having reasonable nexus with the action of the petitioner which are prejudicial to the maintenance of public order. Existence of materials relevant to the formation of the satisfaction and having rational nexus to the formation of the satisfaction that because of certain conduct "it is necessary" to make an order "detaining" such person, are subject to judicial review." (emphasis supplied) (Para 5). 18) In State of Punjab v. Sukhpal Singh, (1990) 1 SCC 35, this Court held: "...the grounds supplied operate as an objective test for determining the question whether ....
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.... daily "the Poknapham" dated 08/03/1999. h) Copy of Notification under No. S.O. 1922 (E) dated 13/11/2007. 22) We are conscious of the fact that the grounds stated in the order of detention are sufficient or not, is not within the ambit of the discretion of the court and it is the subjective satisfaction of the detaining authority which is implied. However, if one of the grounds or reasons which lead to the subjective satisfaction of the detaining authority under NS Act, is non-existent or misconceived or irrelevant, the order of detention would be invalid. 23) Keeping in view these well settled legal principles, we have perused the grounds of detention and the documents relied on by the detaining authority while passing the order of detention. In our considered view, the grounds on which detention order is passed has no probative value and were extraneous to the scope, purpose and the object of the National Security Act. This Court in the case of Mohd. Yousuf Rather Vs. State of Jammu & Kashmir and Ors. (AIR 1979 SC 1925) has observed that under Article 22(5), a detenu has two rights (1) to be informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds on which his detention is bas....
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.... 25) Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India mandates in preventive detention matters. The detenu should be afforded the earliest possible opportunity to make a representation against the order. With regard to the importance of delay in preventive detention matters under the National Security Act, it has been held by this Court in Union of India v. Laishram Lincola Singh @ Nicolai, (2008) 5 SCC 490, that: "There can be no hard and fast rule as to the measure of reasonable time and each case has to be considered from the facts of the case and if there is no negligence or callous inaction or avoidable red-tapism on the facts of a case, the Court would not interfere. It needs no reiteration that it is the duty of the Court to see that the efficacy of the limited, yet crucial, safeguards provided in the law of preventive detention is not lost in mechanical routine, dull casualness and chill indifference, on the part of the authorities entrusted with their application. When there is remissness, indifference or avoidable delay on the part of the authority, the detention becomes vulnerable." (emphasis supplied) (Para 6). 26) On the specific ground of delay in forwarding the repres....