The Gauhati High Court has quashed the detention of Victor Das under the National Security Act (NSA). Das, who was arrested by city police in September last year, had been detained under an advisory order.
A division bench of the court observed that the State Government had “miserably failed to provide constitutional guarantees to the petitioner under Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India” while carrying out the detention process. The court noted that, in this case, there was an unreasonable and unexplained delay in allowing the petitioner to make a representation before the Detaining Authority, as well as in the consideration and disposal of the representation by both the State and Central Governments.
The government had argued that the detention order was issued based on credible evidence and confidential intelligence inputs indicating that the petitioner had been actively involved in activities intended to create unrest in the State by organizing mass protests under the pretext of seeking justice for the demise of Zubeen Garg.
Hearing a writ petition filed by Das, the court pointed out that the “Grounds of Detention” communicated to the petitioner did not mention his right to make a representation to the Detaining Authority. The bench stated that this valuable right was not properly conveyed, thereby violating the entire process of preventive detention.
The court further observed that the petitioner’s representations were not disposed of as expeditiously as required by law by the State and Central Governments. It emphasized that any unexplained delay in preventive detention cases is impermissible. While the State Government took 17 days to dispose of the representation, it failed to provide a convincing explanation for the delay. The court held that such unexplained delay was fatal and gave the petitioner an indefeasible right to liberty.
Accordingly, the court ordered that Victor Das be set at liberty immediately, if not required in connection with any other case.
