The Delhi High Court has ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to carry out a preliminary enquiry of a drug de-addiction centre based in Dehradun after it found that a 22-year-old woman was being illegally kept there despite her not being addicted to any narcotic or other substance.
A Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rajnish Bhatnagar questioned the circumstances under which the de-addiction centre, Golden Dream Society Rehabilitation Centre, admitted the woman and kept her there for over three weeks on the request of her mother.
“The role of Golden Dream Society Rehabilitation Centre, Dehradun, appears to be dubious,” the High Court said.
When the Bench interacted with the mother, she revealed her real concern was that her daughter was under “strong influence” of, and in relationship with a married man who has two children. The woman, on the other hand, told the Bench during the videoconferencing hearing that she does not wish to have any alliance with either her mother or with the married man.
Taking note of the submission, the court ordered immediate release of the woman from the centre. It also remarked that “the possibility of the said centre being misused for the purpose of forcibly detaining people on the ground that they require rehabilitation, cannot be ruled out”.
It directed registration of a case against the centre and its director.
