Chennai: Madras high court has observed that a live and proximate link between the grounds and the purpose of detention is a must for detaining a person under the Goondas Act.A division bench of Justices A D Jagadish Chandira and Krishnaswamy Govindarajan made the observation while quashing an order passed by the Chennai commissioner of police detaining D Anand under the Goondas Act. The court quashed the order on the ground of an inordinate delay of one month in passing the detention order and arrest of the accused.Citing the order passed by Supreme Court in Sushanta Kumar Banik vs State of Tripura, the bench said that the live and proximate link between the grounds and the purpose of detention stands snapped, throwing considerable doubt on the genuineness of the requisite satisfaction of the detaining authority in passing the detention order, unless such delay is satisfactorily explained.The court passed the order on a habeas corpus plea moved by Rajeswari, mother of Anand. According to the petitioner, her son was arrested on Feb 8 by the inspector of Tharamani police. However, he was detained under the Tamil Nadu Preventive Detention Act through an order passed by the commissioner dated March 11.The petitioner said that the inordinate delay in passing the detention order would vitiate the same. “There is no live and proximate link between the date of arrest and the date of the detention order. Hence, on this ground, the present detention order is liable to be set aside,” the petitioner said.Opposing the plea, the prosecution submitted that though there was a delay in passing the detention order, on that score alone, it cannot be quashed. It added that no prejudice has been caused to the detenu and therefore, the habeas corpus petition is liable to be dismissed.
