AZRAFATIMA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This special leave petition is directed against the judgment of the Bombay High Court dated 29th September, 1989 dismissing Criminal Writ Petition No. 87 of 1989.

(2.) Syed Ali Raza Shafiq Mohammed was detained by an order of detention passed under Section 3(1) of the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) dated 19-12-88 by the Secretary (II) to the Government of Maharashtra, Home Department. The detention order and the grounds of detention were given to the detenu on 20th December, 1988. It may be mentioned that on 19-12-88 the detenu was already in jail as his bail application had been rejected. The wife of the detenu filed a writ petition before the Bombay High Court challenging the detention of her husband Syed Ali Raza Shafiq Mohammed. The Division Bench of the High Court dismissed the writ petition by order dated 29th September, 1989. The wife of the detenu has now filed the present Special Leave Petition aggrieved against the judgment of the Bombay High Court. Learned counsel for the petitioner raised the following submissions before us:

(3.) We shall deal with the above contentions seriatim. With regard to the first contention it was submitted by the learned counsel that the detenu was already in custody and his bail application had also been rejected and there was no likelihood of the detenu being released on bail in respect of the alleged offence under the Act where the minimum sentence of imprisonment was ten years. It was submitted that the mere possibility of his release on bail was not enough for preventive detention unless there was material to justify the apprehension that the detention would be necessary in order to prevent him from engaging in illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, in case of his release on bail. A mere possibility of release on bail and a bald statement that the. detenu would repeat his criminal activities was alone not sufficient to sustain the order of detention. It was further contended that the detaining authority did not apply its mind to this aspect of the matter, that the detenu was already in custody and his bail application having been rejected there was no possibility of his being released on bail in a serious offence under the Act. Reliance in support of the above contention was placed on recent decisions of this Court in N. Meera Rani v. Govt. of Tamil Nadu, JT 1989 (3) SC 478 and Dharmendra Sugan Chand Chelwat v. Union of India, (1990) 1 SCC 746.