A division bench of Justices Revati Dere and Prithviraj Chavan passed the order after Demetriades' counsels argued that it was imperative that a translated copy of the statement was provided to give him a fair opportunity to properly defend himself.
"Having failed to provide the same, the grounds of detention have not been communicated to the Petitioner and the Petitioner is thus handicapped in making an effective, meaningful and complete representation against his detention at the earliest, thereby infringing and violating the fundamental rights guaranteed to the Petitioner by both the facets of Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India. The Petitioner says and submits that impugned order of detention is therefore malafide null and void," his plea read.
Nearly a year ago, the Joint Secretary to the Government of India Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue, Ravi Pratap issued a detention order under Section 3(1) of the PIT-NDPS Act, with a view to prevent Demetriades from engaging in illicit trafficking of narcotics drugs and psychotropic substance, in future.
It cited the two cases against him. The first time Demetriades' room at Dele Resorts, Lonavala, was raided on his birthday and 0.8 gms of charas was found. Subsequently one strip of alprazolam was also allegedly found from his Khar residence.
He was also arrested in 2020 in the drugs cases related to Sushant Singh Rajput's death in which actor Rhea Chakraborty was an accused.
The detention order against Demetriades was issued after he was granted bail in both cases, at a belated stage, his lawyers contended.
Initially the South African national approached the Bombay High Court at Goa against the detention order which came to be dismissed. Subsequently he approached the Supreme Court which also refused relief.
Demetriades was taken into custody from Goa on April 20, 2022 and lodged in Arthur Road prison.
Represented by Senior Advocate Mihir Desai, Advocates Kushal Mor and Kunal Bilaney, Demetriades claimed that he was served with the grounds for detention only on April 22, 2022, making his detention illegal.
Desai argued that being a foreign national Demetriades did not read, write or understand Hindi in any form whatsoever.
"It was incumbent upon the detaining authority to provide translated copies of the said documents in a language understood by the Petitioner."
The central agency represented by Advocate Shreeram Shirsat defended their actions and said the order is rightly issued.
Case Title: Agisilaos Demetriades Vs. The Union of India and Ors.