Setting aside an order detaining a person in a special camp for foreigners at Chengalpattu, the Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to look into the complaints made by him to erase the impression that serious allegations against higher officials will be swept under the carpet.
The fact that petitioner G. Karunairaj of Mangamaru Donka at Ongole in Andhra Pradesh was assaulted in the special camp is an indication that there is something more than what meets the eye, Justice V. Ramasubramanian observed in his order. In the petition filed through counsel M. Shreedhar, Mr. Karunairaj stated he along with his wife and three children came to Chennai on August 21, 2010 and were staying in a hotel. Around midnight, police personnel in plain clothes entered the hotel and took them to Coimbatore. Several cases were foisted on him.
He lodged several complaints to authorities. After his release on bail, he was declared a foreigner and lodged in a special camp, “without even following the due process of law despite voluminous records to show that he is a citizen of India”.
The government submitted that the petitioner had multiple PAN cards and driving licences in different names and addresses with different dates of birth and that all the documents were found to be forged.
Mr. Justice Ramasubramanian said though the petitioner made several allegations against a particular police officer without even impleading him as a party, those allegations need not be enquired into for testing the correctness of the impugned order for various reasons.
He was testing the order on purely legal grounds.
In the affidavit, the petitioner stated that he strongly felt that the impugned G.O. was issued on the influence of C. Sylendra Babu, the then Coimbatore police Commissioner.
The Judge said apart from the fact that no opportunity was given to Mr. Karunairaj to even discharge the onus placed on him under Section 9 (burden of proof) of the Foreigners Act, before the government passed the impugned order, there was also clear non-application of mind by the government.
As per the government's counter, the Inspector-General of Police sent his recommendation for lodging the petitioner in the Special Camp on November 8, 2011, immediately after the petitioner's release on bail. The impugned order was issued within 24 hours.
“I do not know how it was possible for the government to scan all the records within such a short span of time, considering the pace at which the machinery normally moves.”
As per a Supreme Court decision, an order should not only reflect application of mind, but also follow principles of natural justice. In this case, both were absent. Therefore, the impugned order was liable to be set aside.
Mr. Justice Ramasubramanian said there were certain disturbing features in this case.
The petitioner's eldest child was a girl and the petitioner had made serious allegations against police officers, including the then Coimbatore Police Commissioner, that her modesty was outraged.
There was no whisper in the government's counter as to whether any kind of enquiry was conducted on such allegations.
“Even if the petitioner was a foreign national, his children cannot be treated in the manner alleged by him, and the first respondent (State) owes a duty to conduct an impartial and independent enquiry into these allegations, to keep the image of the police unsullied. But this had not been done.” The manner in which the petitioner was lodged in the special camp as narrated in the counter itself did not inspire the confidence of the court, the Judge observed.
