The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court struck down a series of preventive detention orders passed under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act, 1981 (MPDA), holding that the State authorities had acted in a “mechanical” manner without proper application of mind, thereby violating the constitutional guarantee of personal liberty under Article 21 read with Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.
The petitions were filed by several detenus challenging detention orders issued against them under the MPDA.
The Court observed that the conferment of preventive-detention powers on the District Magistrates for 6 months under Section 3(2) was issued mechanically, without identifying the “prevailing or likely to prevail” circumstances in each district as required by law.
The Court also observed that the approval of detention orders under Section 3(3), and their subsequent confirmation under Section 12 of the MPDA, were identically worded, reflecting no independent assessment. The confirmation orders, the Bench noted, had uniformly extended the detention of all detenus for the maximum permissible period of twelve months, without recording any reason or showing satisfaction that the circumstances justifying detention still prevailed.
The Court, while referring to Abhay Shridhar Ambulkar v. S.V. Bhave (1991) 1 SCC 500 and Ameena Begum v. State of Telangana (2023) 9 SCC 587, emphasised that preventive detention, being an exception to the rule of liberty, must be exercised with extreme care and subjective satisfaction. The Court reiterated that mechanical approval or confirmation of detention orders is void ab initio.
Accordingly, the Bench of Justice Anil L. Pansare and Justice Siddheshwar S. Thombre quashed all detention, approval, and confirmation orders, directing the release of all detenus unless required in any other case.
Appearances
Portioners- Mr. M.N. Ali, Mr. S.K. Lambat; Mr. Shahrukh Shafik Sheikh, Mr. A.A. Krishnan, Mr. M.N. Ali, Mr. Prateek Sharma with Mr. Pradyumna Sharma, Mr. G.B. Mate, Mr. A.M. Gopale, Mr. S.N. Singh, Mr. P.J. Mehta, Mr. P.R. Agrawal, Mr. K.S. Motwani, Mr. S.H. Mansuri, Mr. N.S. Padia, Mr. Sarnath Sahoo, Mr. Joseph Bastian, Ms M.M. Agrawal, Mr. Anshuman Deshmukh, Ms F.N. Haidari h/f Mr. R.M. Daga
Respondents- Mr. D.V. Chauhan, Senior Counsel / Government Pleader, Mr. S.S. Doifode, A.P.P., Mr. S.A. Ashirgade, A.P.P., Mr. A.B. Badar, A.P.P., Mr. K.R. Lule, A.P.P., Mr. I.J. Damle, A.P.P., Ms. R.V. Sharma, A.P.P., Mr. A.R. Chutke, A.P.P.
