A public interest litigation petition was filed before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday seeking a direction to the Thoothukudi Collector to produce the copy of the prohibitory order clamped in parts of Thoothukudi under Section 144 of Cr. P. C. during the anti-Sterlite protest.
The petitioner, advocate A.W.D. Tilak, said that though an application was made under RTI Act for production of the prohibitory order issued by the Collector, it was not furnished. He alleged that the police had misused their statutory powers and illegally detained people at various places without documenting their arrests.
The arrests were not made in accordance with guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court and Sections 41A ( Notice of appearance before police officer), 41D ( Right of arrested person to meet an advocate of his choice during interrogation ) and 42 ( Arrest on refusal to give name and residence ) of Cr. P. C. As many as 239 cases had been registered by the police in Thoothukudi, he said.
Before imposing such an order, the District Magistrate must first believe that apprehension of nuisance or danger existed.
The order should be backed by proper evidence. In the absence of such evidence, the District Magistrate could not merely pass a prohibitory order.
The order must be in writing and should be specific and definite. The material facts must be stated and the order must be served, he claimed.
In the wake of people being detained illegally at the Armed Reserve camp in Millerpuram, the petitioner sought, as an interim direction, a 24-hour panel of lawyers to provide assistance to those detained illegally. He sought a restraint on indiscriminate detentions and arrests and a direction to the Chief Judicial Magistrate to inspect the camp.
Taking up the petition for hearing, a Division Bench of Justices C. T. Selvam and A. M. Basheer Ahamed directed notice to the State and adjourned the case by one week for further hearing.
