Court Can Review Detention Orders Despite Detaining Authority's Subjective Satisfaction: Jammu & Kashmir High Court

Justice Puneet Gupta found that while the detention order need not be preceded by a police case, the vague allegations against the petitioner were not supported by sufficient evidence and concluded that the detention order did not meet the requisite legal standards.

“The subjective satisfaction though cannot be interfered normally by the court but at the same time it does not deprive the court to look into the satisfaction recorded by the detaining authority and set at naught, if the material is found to be completely deficient necessitating the passing of the detention order”.

The observations came in the petitioner's plea challenging the detention order dated 25th June 2022, which had placed him under preventive custody on the ground that his actions were deemed prejudicial to the security of the state.

The petitioner contended that the detention order lacked specific and concrete evidence linking him to any unlawful activity. The petitioner was accused of affiliations with the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorist outfit, inciting youth to join the outfit, and providing logistical and financial assistance to terrorists. However, the petitioner argued that the allegations were vague, lacking specific instances, dates, or names to substantiate the claims. Furthermore, the petitioner's fundamental rights were allegedly violated as he was not provided with the supporting material that formed the basis of his detention.

Upon careful examination of the records, the court noted that the detention order was primarily based on a dossier provided by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Bandipora. However, the court deemed the allegations vague and bereft of specifics, making it difficult to establish a concrete connection between the petitioner and the alleged unlawful activities.

The bench highlighted the absence of names of individuals who were supposedly influenced by the petitioner to join the terrorist organization and pointed out that while the absence of a prior police case doesn't necessarily invalidate a detention order, in this case, it assumed significance due to the vague and unsupported nature of the allegations.

“No doubt, it is not necessary that the detention order should be preceded by registration of the case by the police against the detenue and the detention order can be passed even in the absence of the same yet the same assumes significance in the present case as the acts attributed to the petitioner in the grounds of detention are vague as stated above meaning thereby that the detaining authority was without any material which could compel the authority concerned to pass the detention order”, the bench maintained.

While upholding the detaining authority's right to detain if supported by substantive material, the bench also underscored the importance of such material being worthy and genuine, thus ensuring that the authority isn't prompted to pass a detention order without credible cause.

Concluding that the detention order had failed to meet the test of law due to the lack of specific and credible evidence against the petitioner the court quashed the detention order, thereby ordering the immediate release of the petitioner from custody.

Case Title: Mohammad Amin Wani vs. UT Of J&K

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 230

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