SK. IBRAHIM versus STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND ORS.

KHANNA, J. The District .Ma£istrate of Hooghly pa,sed an order. on May 9. 1973 under sub-section (1) .read with. sub-section (2)'C of section 3 of the Maintenance of Intern'al Securiiy Act, 1971 (Aclt: No. 26 of 1971 \ for the dete11tion of the petitioner with a view to prevent him from acting any m~nner prejukiicial ~ the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the commumty. In pursuance of the detentfon onler, the petitioner was arrested on May 14, 1973 antl was served with the order of detention as also the grounds :if lletention together with vernacular translation thereof. Report abo~t the. making of ·the· detention oirder was sent by the District Magistrate to the State Gover'nment and the said Govermnent approved the detention ord;_r on May 18, 1973. The case the petitioner was placed before the Advisory Boa.II by the State Government on June 5, 1973. !he petitioner sent a representation a~ainst his detention and the same was received by the State Government on June 2. 1973. The State Government rejeCted the representation on June 4, 1973 and forwarded the same to the Advisory Board. The Advisory Board after considering the representation and hearing the petitioner in person made report to the State Government on. July 11, 1973. Opinion was expressed by the Board that there was suffiCient cause for the detention of the petitioner. On Julv 30. 1973 the State Government confirmed the order for the de\cntion of the petitioner.

pp. 803–804, margin H

The petitioner in the meantime filed petition under section 491 of the Code ·of Criminal Procedure before the Calcutta High Court. The said petition was hearll by a Division Bench of the High Court and was dismissed as per judgment dated July 4, 1973. The present petition under article 32 of the Constituton was thereafter sent bv the petitioner from jail on July 23, 1973 for the issue of a writ hdbeas corpus. ·

p. 804, margin D

The petition has been resisted by the State of West Bengal and the affidavit of Shri Sukumar S!on, Deputy Secretary, Home (Sp,cial) Department has been filed in opposition to the petition. Arguments have been addressed before us by Mr. S. C. Majumdar amicus curiae and Mr. Sukumar Ghosh for the State of West Bengal. Mr. Majumdar has assailel:I the detention of the potitioner on three grounds.

p. 804, margin E

It has been argued in the first instance by Mr. Majumdar that there was delay on the part of the State· Government in considering th~ representation of the petitioiner and such delay vitiates the detention. This contention. in our opinion, is without any force. It would appear from the affidavit filed by Shri Sukumar Sen that the representation sent by the petitioner was received by the Stato Government in its Home Department on June 2. 1973 after it had been forwarded by the Superintendent, Hooghly Jail. The said representation was then considered anl! was rejected by the State Government on June 4. 1973. It cannot, in our ooim\m, be said that there was any delav in the disposal of the representation of the petitioner by the State Government. It has been ureed that the representatiOn was sent by him from jail on Mav 25, 1973 and that a period of 10 davs elaosed froni the date oi the submission of the representation and its actual disposal. ·The above period cannot also be ·said to be so inord;natelv long as might affect the validity of .the detention.

p. 804, margin F

It has next been argued on behalf of the petitioner that the . detention order ccpltain<!I blank~ which were filled in subsequent to th~ signing of that order by the District Magistrate. This. allegation has been denied in the affidavit filed on behalf of the State Government and, in our opinion, there is no cogent ground to accept the correctness of the alle11.ation. The petitiQner was admittedly not presem at the time the detentio11 order was signed by the District MaJ!istrate and. as such. he cannot be in a position to state whether the detention order contauied blanks when it was. signed by the District Magistrate. The mere fact that the detention order is on a cyclostyled: sheet wherein neC\lssary particulars were filled in ink would not to show that the particulars in ink were filled in sub- . sequent to the signing of the detention order.

p. 805

Lastly, it has been ar11.ued by Mr. Maiumdar that the grounds of detention on the basis of which the order for the detention was made were va11.µe. In this connection firtl that the grounds of detention were as under :

p. 805, margin C

"On 31-3-73 in the ~arly hours of the morning you and your. associates were found to smul1.Jlle rice by train No. of 2 Dn. ITarakeiltwar-Sheoraphuli local) from non-ratiOllled areas to rationing areas of Hooghly and Howrah District in contraventiqn of the provisions of the West Ben11.3l Rice and Palldy !Restriction on Movement) Order, 1968. At 04.27 hrs.' of tlate when the train reached Kamarkundu Railway Station the anti-smuggling staff of Dankuni P.S. che<;kPO&t under the command of SJ . . Biren Das. seized 14 auini8Js and 55 kgS. of smuggled rice belonll.inj!; to You and your associates after rummal!ing the said train. At this you -and your associates launched a violent attack on the anti-smu11.11.ling · party · and threw ballasts towards them causin2 injuries on the persons of some of the anti-smu~ng staff with a view to scare them awav and thus attempted escaPe with the. smuggled rice. The ·anti·smu2clin2 party had to open fire in self-defence and could be able to arrest two of your associates on chase when vou and vour other associates mana2ed to escape. As a result of. this. there w.S ·senous disruption in t)le ~ooth running of train lierVices on Tarake~war:ltowrah line causinj!; inconvenience to the travelling·public and tranship· ment of commodities essential to the community. The said activity of vours thus attract section 3 ( 1 )(a)( iii) of the Maintenance of Tnternal Secqriiv Act, 1971 (Act No. 26 of. 1971).

p. 805, margin C

2; On 12-4!-73 at 11-21 hrs. you and your associates were found to hoard train No. 4' Dn. (Bombay-Howrah Mail) . with hu2e auantitv of rice with a view . to smuggle thet11 from non -rationed areas to the industrial belts of Howrah in contravention of the provisions of the West Bengal ruce and Poody (Restriction on Movement) Order, 1%8 when the train stOl!{JCd at Jaugram Railway Stauon on Burdwan-Howrab Chord line due to alarm chain pulling bv some of your associates as per previous arrangements, s. P. N. 0. Dey of G.R.P.. Enforcement Branch, Howrah with his staff who were travelling by the said train could be' able to slop th~ train at Chandanpore Railway Station with the help of the Guard of the train. On seeing the S.I. and his party, vou-\Um.ped down from the train and fled away from there leaving behind the bags of smuggled rice weighing 5 quintals. The S.l. and his staff could also be able to seize 41 quintals and 75 kgs. of smuggled rice from the possession of your O.ther associates wbo also managed to escape with you. The total value oi the smuggled rice seized was.about Rs. 10,000/-, By your such act you tried to frustrate the food policy of the Government in respect of supplv and distribution of essential commodities to the community. The said activitv of vours thus attract section S(l)(a)(iii) c: the Maintenance of Internal Secllrity Act, 1971 (Act 26 of 1971).

pp. 805–806, margin G

3. On 23-4-73 at 12-20 hrs. when train No. C-258 Down (Burdwan-Howrah Chord line local> arrived at Kamarkundu Railway Station, the anti-smuggling party of Howrah G.R.P. Cordonin,ll saw vou in a 3rd class compartment of the said train with the bags of smuggled rice in contravention of the provisions of. the West Bengal Rice and Pakidy (Restriction on Movement) Order, 196~. The anti-smuggling staff under the command of S.I., J. C. Das arrested vou from the 3rd class compartment of the said train with two ~y ·bags containing 169 kgs. of rice which vou were carrving without any permit or authority, By vour such act vou tried to frustrate the food policy of the Government in respect of supplv and distribution of essential commollities to the community. The said activity of yours thus attract section 3(1)(a){iii) of the Maintenance of Internal Security Act, 1971 (Act 26

p. 806, margin D

1971)." It wo~d appear from the above that the date, time and place of each of the incidents were sPCCified in the l!l'OUDds. Particulars were also liven rCl!ardin2 the nature of the activities of the petitioner. The facts stated in the grounds of detention were sufficient to apprise lhe petitioner of the orecise activities on account of which the detention order had been made. It cannot in the circumstances be said that the petitioner was in anv way handicapped in makillll an effective rel)fCSentation. The fact that the names of the associates of the petitioner were not mentioned in the grounds of detention woultl not e:o to show that they suffered from the infirmitv of vagueness. The courts look with disfavour upon vague grounds of detention, bec~use such grounds fail , to convey to the detenu the precise activitv on account of which he is being detained. The detenu is thus prevented from making an effective representation which he might possible have made, if he had been apprised of the objectionable activity which led to his detention. Where, however, as in the present case the requisite details of the activity for which the order for detention was made.. have been conveyed to the detenu at1d he is not shown to have been prejudiced or handicapped in making an effective representation, the argument about the vague,. ness of grounds of detention must plainly be held to be not tenable.

pp. 806–807, margin F

The petition consequently fails and is dismissed. S.B.W. Petition dismisJed.

p. 807, margin B