Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Court cautions Collectors, Police Commissioners

MADURAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday cautioned District Collectors and Police Commissioners against excessive use of preventive detention enactments such as the Goondas Act. A Division Bench, comprising Justice D. Murugesan and Justice M. Sathyanarayanan, said that of late, there was an explosion of habeas corpus petitions (HCPs) seeking to set aside such detention orders. On Wednesday alone, the Judges quashed seven detention orders, including five passed by the Police Commissioner here between December 25 and February 26 against those in judicial custody in different criminal cases.

All the seven orders had been passed under the Tamil Nadu Preventive Detention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Forest Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Sand Offenders, Slum grabbers and Video Pirates Act, popularly known as the Goondas Act.

“Nowadays, we are disposing of HCPs like bail petitions. If you use the preventive detention laws in this way, they may lose their force in the near future,” Mr. Justice Murugesan told the Additional Public Prosecutor.

The Bench allowed all the seven HCPs on the grounds of non-application of mind by the detaining authorities.

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