The Hindu : SC asks Madras HC to dispose of habeas corpus pleas

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 10, 2002

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SC asks Madras HC to dispose of habeas corpus pleas

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI Aug. 9. The Supreme Court today asked the Madras High Court to expedite the hearing of the preventive detention cases and not to prolong them on the ground that the detaining authority had not filed counter affidavits.

A Bench, comprising M.B. Shah and D.M. Dharmadhikari, made this observation while directing the High Court to dispose of a habeas corpus petition filed by the wife of a detenu under the Tamil Nadu Goondas Act within two months irrespective of whether the detaining authority filed the counter affidavit or not.

The Bench, however, dismissed a special leave petition filed by the detenu's wife against a High Court order declining to grant bail to her husband, Anbu Gnanadurai, pending disposal of the writ petition challenging the preventive detention.

Senior counsel for the petitioner, K. Subramanian contended that the Supreme Court had been consistently taking the view that in detention matters only the detaining authority who arrived at the subjective satisfaction should file the counter. He said in the present case, only the police officer, against whom allegations of foisting of false cases were made in the pre-detention representation, had filed the counter-affidavit and further because of delay in filing the counter-affidavit, considerable delay was caused in disposal of the habeas corpus petition.

In her petition, A. Pushparani said her husband was detained under the Goondas Act on May 12 by an order passed by the Chennai Police Commissioner. Contending that there was patent illegality in the detention, she prayed for releasing her husband on bail pending disposal of the writ petition. As her plea was rejected by the High Court, she filed the present SLP.

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