Mohd. Subrati Alias Mohd. Karim v. State of West Bengal

Judgment

ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition No. 307 of 1972. Petition· under Article 32 of the Constitution of India for a writ in the nature of habeas corpus. Jagmohan Khanna for the petitioner. G. S. Chatterjee for the respondent. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by DuA, J .-The petitioner in these proceedings for a wnt m the nature of habeas corpus under Art. 32 of the Constitution is one Mohd. Subrati alias Mohd. Karim detained in the Burdwan Jail pursuant to the impugned order of detention dated February 9, 1972 made by the District Magistrate, Burdwan in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sub-s. (!) reaci with sub-s. (2) of s. 3 of the Maintenance of Iilternal Security Act No. 26 of 1971 (hereinafter called the Act).

The ;aid District Magistrate, as is clear from impugned order, was sati>fied that with a view to preventing 'the petitioner from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community it was necessary to make the order directing that he be detained. The ground of detention were duly served on him at the time of his arrest on Februa1 y 11, 1972. Those grounds are :- "I. That on 6-1-72 at about 03.30 hrs. you along with your associates including ( 1) Tcka Buhadur son of Shri Harak Bir Bahadur of Hutton Road, P.S. Asansol. Dist. Burd wan, (2) Shri Ganesh Das son of S~ri Chote Das of Gour Monda! Road, P.S. Asansol, Dist. Bur~wan committed theft in respect of electric copper wtre f about 1500 ft. in length) at Hatgarui near Sen-Rele1gh Water Pump, P.S. Asansol, Dist. Burdwan. As a result of this theft, water supply as well as electric supply in Sen-Releigh Housing Colony; P.S. Asansol, Dist.

Burdwan was totally disrupted for about 8 hours to the sufferimt• of the people of the locality. 2. That on 12-1-72 at about 04.00 hrs. you along w_ith your associates including ( 1) Teka Bahadur son of Shri Harak: Bir Bahadur of Hutton Road, P .S. Asansol Dist. Burdwan (2) Ganesh Das, son of Shri Chote Das of Gour Monda! Road, P.S. Asansol, Dist. Burdwan. committed theft in respect of electric copper wire (about 3000 ft. in length) from the electric poles at 'C' Block, Sen Releigh Housing Colony, P.S. Asansol Dist. Burdwan. When challenged by the inhabitants of the area, you and your associates hurled bombs towards them. By your act, electric supply was totally disrupted in 'C' .Block area, Sen Releigh Housing Estate and its adjoining areas for mo1" than 12 hours causing much inconvenience to the p~ople of the locality." 'The fact of making the order ·of detention was duly reported to the State Government OD February 9, 1972, the date of the order.

TI1e State Goveniment approved that order on February 21, 1972 and the necessary report submitted to the Central Govermnent the same day. The petitioner, as stated by him in the petition for habeas corpus, was produced before and heard in person, by the Advisory Board on April 10, 1972. The Board, according to the respondent,· gave its decision the same day. The. representation made by the petitioner was received by the State Government on March 16, 1972 and considered bv the said Government on March 22, 1972. The State Government confirmed the order of detention on May 5, 1972 and c01nmunicated it~ order to the detenu the same day. The only oubmission pressed by Shri Jagmohan, the learned counsel appearing as amicus curiae in support of the writ petition, in assailing the order of detention is that, according to the return itself, two cases for theft of copper wires under s. 379, I.P.C. were registered against the petitioner and others at the Asansol Police Station (Case no.

16 ·dated 6th January, 1972 and case no. 20 dated 12th January, 1972), but as th: witnesses examined under s. 161, Cr.P.C. were reluctant w depose against petitioner and his associates for fear of danger to their lives, the Investigating Officer submitted as "true, his final report suspecting the petition~r and his ~ssociates. The order of detention was for this reason de>cribed by Shri Khanna as ma/a fide and. therefore, liabb to be quashed. According to the learned counsel in such cases criminal trial is the only course open to the State and no order of detention is legally competent. The counsel added that MOHD. SUBRATI v. WEST BENGAL (Dua, J.) if the criminal 'trial fails or the case is not launched because it is liable to fail, the State has to remain content with the result. It cannot deprive the suspected person of his liberty under the Act We ar-! unable to accept this contention.

The Act w~s brought on the statute book in 1971 in order .to provide for detention in certain cases f<Jr the purpose of maintenance of internal security and matters connected therewith. Its enactment was necessitated because in view of the prevailing situation in the country and th.~ developments across the border it was considered necessary for urgent and effective pro!ventive action in the interest of national security, to have powers of pre· ventive detention 'to deal effectively with threats to the defence and the security of India because the existing laws available to deal with the situation were not found to be adequate. The •!mergent requirement for such a Jaw would be obvious from the fact that before its enactment it had been considered necessary to promulgate the Maintcnan•·e of Internal Se.:urity Ordinance, 1971 which was replaced by the present Act Under s.

3 ( 1) of the Act, the Central Government or the State Government may, if satisfied with respect to any person, that with a view to preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to, inter alia, the security of the State or the. maintenance of supplie5 and services essential to the community, it is necessary to do so, make an order directing that such person be detained. Sub-section (2) of this section authorises District Magistrates and certain other officers, if satisfied a5 above to exercise the power conferred by sub-s. (1). h is quite clear that this section carries out the statutory purposeo of preventive detention and it has nothing to do with trial and punishment of persons for commission of offences.

Indeed, it is precisely because the existing law providing, for the punishment of persons accused of commission of offences and, for prevention of offences, is not found adequate for dealing with the situation for eff.xtively preventing, in the interest of naticnal security etc .. the commission of prejudicial acts m futur,~. that the provisions of this Act were enacted and are intended to he utilised. If, therefore, for any reason it is not possible to successfully try and secure the conviction and imprisonment of the persons concerned for their past activities, which amount to an offence, but which are also relevant for the satisfaction ot the detaining authority for c:insidering it necessary that a detention order under s. 3 he made for preventing such persons from actmg in a prejudicial manner as contemplated by that s::ction, then, the Act would indisputably be attracted and a detention order can appropriately be made.

The detention order in such a case cannot be challeng,ed on the ground that the person ordered to be detained was liable to be tried for the commission of the offence or offences founded on his conduct. on the basis of which, the detention order has been made or that proceedings under Chapter VIII, Cr.P.C. could be initiated against him. The object, scheme .and language of the Act is clearly against the petitioner's submission. The Act creates in the authorities concerned a new jurisdiction to make orders for preventive detention on their subjective satisfaction of grounds of suspicion of commission in future of acts prejudicial to the community in general. This jurisdiction is different from that of judicial trial in courts for offences and of judicial orders for pre- \~ntion of offences. 'Even unsuccessful judicial trial or proceeding would, therefore, not operate as a bar to a detention order or render it ma/a fide. The matter is also not res integra.

Indeed, while dealing with the Defence of India Rules which also empowered the Government of India to make orders of preventive detention this Court in Sahib Singh Dugal v. Union of' India( 1) repelled a similar contention in the following words "The next .contention on behalf of the petitioners is that the order Is ma/a fide. The reason for this contention is that it was originally intended to prosecute the petitioners under s. 3 of ihe Official Secrets Act and when the authorities were unable to get sufficient evidence· to obtain a conviction they decided to drop the criminal proceedings and to order the detention of the petitioners. This by itself is not sufficient to lead to the inference that the action of the detaining authority was ma/a fide.

It may very well be that the executive authorities felt that it was not possible to obtain a conviction for a particular offence under the Official Secrets Act, at the same time they might reasonably come to the conclusion that the activities of the petitioners which had been watched for over two years before the order of detention was passed were of such a nature as to justify the order of detention. We cannot infer merely from the fact tha! the authorities decided to drop the case under the Official Secrets Act and thereafter to order the detention of the petitioners under the Rules that the order of detention was ma/a fide. As we have already said, it may not be possible to obtain a conviction for a particular offence; but the authorities may still be justified in ordering detention of a .person in view c' his past activities which will be of a wider range than the mere proof of a particular offence in a court of law.

We are not therefore prepared to hold that the orders of detention in these cases were ma/a fide". (I} [1966] I S.C.R. -313. MOHD. SUBRATI v. WBST BBNGAL (Dua, J.) A 1bia decision was followed by this Court in Mohd. Salim K~ v. C. C. Bose & anr.(1 ). A similar view was also taken by this Court in Borjahan Gorey v. State of West Bengal(') where it was observed: 'The preventive detention provided by the Act is appareMl.y designed to deal urgently and effectively with the more serious situation, inter alia, afle<;ting the security of India and the maintenance of public order as coll'lemplated ~ section 3 of. the Act. The liability of the detenu also to be tried for commission of ltD offence ...... do not in. any way as a inatter of 111w affect or impinge upon the full operation of the A1;t. The reason is obvious.

Judicial trial for punishing tile accused for the commission of an offence. . . . . . is a. jurisdiction distinct from that of detention under the Act, which has in view, the object of preventing the detenu from acting i:n any manner prejudicial inter alia to the security of the State or maintenance of public order. The fields of these two jurisdictions are not.coextensive nor are they alternative. The jurisdiction under the Act may be invoked, when the available eYi· dence does riot come up to the standard of judicial proof but is otherwise cogent enough to give rise to suspic1oa in the mind of the authority concerned that there j$ a reasonable likelihood of repetition of past conduct which would be prejudicial inter a/ia to the security of the State or the maintenance of public order or even when the witnesses may be frightened or scared of cominl( to a court and deposinl( about past acts on which the opinion of the authority concerned is based.

This jurisdiction is sometimes called the jurisdiction of suspicion founded on past incidents and depending c.n subjective satisfaction. . . . . • The grounds of detention relate to the past acts on which the opinion as to the likelihood of the repetition of such or similar acts is based and those grounds are furnished to the detenu to infori:n him as to how and why the subjective satisfaction has been arrived at so as to enable him to represent against them. The fact, therefore, that a prosecution under the Code could also have been launched is not a valid ground for saying that it pre\ eludes the authority from acting under the Act." The l!;rievance that the petitioner ought to have been proceed· ed agains~ in a court of law, and that the investigating agency did not put him on a regular trial for want of evidence can thus be (I) 119721 2 S.C.C. 001. 12-L521Sup.C.I.173 t(2) [1972] 2 s.c.c. sso. [1973]

2 S.C.lt. no bar to his detention if the detaining authority under the ~ct is satisfied that it is necessary to make the order of preventive detention on the grounds contemplated by the Act. The ,grounds on the basis of which the petitioner has beet1 detained are clear, relevant and germane to the object and purpose for which preventive detention is authorised by the Act. The pe•itioner is stated to have committed theft of electric copper wires on January 6 and 12, 1972. When he was challenged by the inhabitants of the area be and his associates hurled bombs towards them. The theflt of electric wire totally disrupted electric supplies for ;everal hours in the areas concerned.

This conduct is very relevant for satisfying the authority concerned that it is prejudicial :o lhe maintenance of supplies and services e&Sential to the community and if such authority considers it necessary on this ground to detain him with a view to p;eventing him from repeating such acts, then, the order of detention would indubitably and legitimat~ly fall within the purview of s. 3 of the Act. The detention or<Jer is not open to challenge in these proceedings on the grounds averred in the writ petition and urged by the learned co.unsel at the bar. In this connection, S"ri Chatter.ii also drew our attention to Arun Kumar v. State of West Bengal(') and Sasti Chowdhary v. State oj West Bengal(').

No doubt, the right to personal liberty of an individual is jealously protected by our Constit'.ltion but this liberty is not absolute and is not to be understood to amount to licence to indulge in activities which wrongfully and unjustly deprive the community of the society of essential services and supplies. The right ()f the society as a whole is, from its very nature, of such greater importance than that of an individual. In case of confiict between the two rights, the individual's right is su~eoted by our Constitution to reasonable restrictions in the larger interests of the society. Before concluding, however, we consider il proper to refer to one other !flatter which appears to be of importance. According to rthe counter-affidavit the order of detention has been approved by the State Govemcent under s. 3 (3) of the Act on February 18, 1972. This is clearly inc;prrect.

We find from the original order of approval from the record (which was produced by the counsel for the State under our directions) that it was draft on February 19, 1972 but actually signed by the Deputy Secretary on behalf of the Government on February 21, 1972. The ,)rder of approval must, therefore. be considered to have been made only <Jn the day when it was si~ed, i.e., February 21, 1972. We are unable to find any cogent reason for the sworn assertion iu the (l) A.LR. 1972 S.C. 1858. W A.T.R. 1972 S.C. 1668. II MOHD. SUBRATI v. WEST BENGAL (Dua. 1.) 99 7 counter-affidavit that this order had been approved on February 18, 1972. We feel that the counter-affidavit produced in this Court in answer to the challenge to the preventive aetention of the detenu should contain all the facts correctly and full disclosure must be made without any reservation.

It inust be remembered that the personal liberty of an individual has been given an honoured place in the fundamental rights which our Constitution has jealously protected against illegal and arbitrary deprivation, and that this Court has been entrusted with a duty and invested with a power to enforce that fundamental right. It is, therefore, obligatory on the part of the State to place bt;fore this Court all the relevant facts relating to the impugned deten- ' tion truly, clearly and with the utmost fairness. This Court normally accepts without reservation the sworn affidavits by responsible officers on the assumption that the facts stated therein are absolutely true and that there is no mis-statement or concealment of relevant facts. It is, therefore, incumbent on the officer concerned swearing the counter-affidavit to take good care to satisfy himself that what he states on oath is absolutely true according to the record. This petition fails and is dismissed. V.P.S. Petition dismissed.