The Madras High Court has quashed the detention of T.D. Naidu alias D.D. Naidu of D.D. Medical College and DD Hospital in Tiruvallur district under the Goondas Act.
A Division Bench, comprising Justices S. Rajeswaran and P.N. Prakash, passed the order on a petition by Prabhavathi, Mr. Naidu’s wife.
Mr. Naidu was detained on June 7 this year on an order of the Tiruvallur District Collector. He is now in Central Prison, Vellore.
In the habeas corpus petition, Mrs. Prabhavathi said the Detaining Authority (DA) had failed to consider that all the adverse cases related to money transactions were alleged to have taken place between the detenu and private individuals, but the ground case alone related to public, law and order. There could be no nexus between adverse cases and the ground case.
Setting aside the detention order, the Bench said courts had repeatedly held that any document relied on by the DA should be furnished to the detenu. In this case, though two similar cases with respect to P. Kuppu and Suresh had been referred to by the authority in the detention order, the particulars of the cases had not been furnished to the detenu; thereby, he was deprived of an opportunity to make an effective representation, a right given to the detenu.
Therefore, on this ground alone, the order of detention was liable to be vitiated. Further, the booklet which was in possession of the Advocate-General and produced before the court contained the documents relied on by the authority whereas the booklet served on Mr. Naidu did not contain those related documents. The Bench said it had no hesitation in quashing the order of detention on these grounds. It allowed the petition.
