PIL Before Delhi High Court Seeks Release of Persons 'Detained Illegally' By Delhi Police After Farmers' Tractor Rally In The Capital

The petitioner, a law student has filed the plea through Advocates Ashima Mandla and Mandakini Singh calling the arrests violative of Articles 14,21,22 of the Constitution of India. According to the petitioner, he has the locus standi to file the PIL as around 200 persons, including farmers have been missing since January 26th/27th, 2021, and plea for habeas corpus can be invoked by any person, on behalf of illegally detained person.

The Petitioner received information through personal survey, newspaper reports, media reports and social activists that people have been illegally detained from the Singhu border, Ghazipurborder and Tikri border, in the absence of any FIR, and in violation of the basic fabric of liberty. The petitioner also has the names of 15 persons who have been missing and detained since Janaury 26th/27th, 2021, and despite a passage of over 4 days, no legally tenable reason has surfaced supporting such detention.

The petition has stated that the Delhi Police had on January 27th circulated in media that over 200 persons had been detained in connection with the alleged violence in the national capital during the farmers' tractor rally and 22 FIRs were registered. But the Delhi Police failed to comply with procedural formalities like signing of the arrest memo, informing the next of kin within a period of 8-12 hours, and production of the persons before the Magistrate u/s 167 CrPC. This failure on part of the Delhi Police therefore falls within the contours of 'illegal detention'.

"It is pertinent to mention that the mere act of detaining in police custody in the absence of registration of FIR(s) qua detained persons and subsequently, without production of detained persons before Magistrate within 24 hours in compliance with Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and non-compliance of the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal., (1997) shall tantamount to illegal detention and violating Articles 14, 21 and 22 of the Constitution of India and thereby praying for a Writ of Habeas Corpus be issued by this Hon'ble Court directing for the immediate release of the detained persons." - the plea reads.

According to the plea, the notion of liberty cannot be diffused even in emergencies. The constitution is the paramount and supreme law of the land, and it embodies the safeguard that if a person is detained otherwise than in accordance with law, the constitutional safeguard can be invoked to enforce the Right of Personal Liberty.

Picture Courtesy: Hindustan Times