DORJE WANGCHUK Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule in this petition was issued on 19/12/1986. The respondents have neither appeared nor have they filed a return despite service. Under these circumstances I have heard Mr. N.S. Mathur on behalf of the petitioner.

(2.) The husband of the petitioner, Dorj'e Wangchuk detenu in this case) was detained in pursuance of an order dated 9/8/1986. The order was passed by the Government ofUttar Pradesh under Section 3(1) of Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevenon of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974. The detention was ordered with a view to preventing the detenu from smuggling of goods and engaging-in transporting, concealing and keeping smuggled goods.

(3.) Before I take up for consideration the contentions raised by Mr. Mathur, a brief reference may be made to the incident that ultimately culminated in the passing of the said detention order. On 22/6/1986 at about 4.30 hours the Customs Officers of Basti signalled a tourist bus number DEP- 7788 to stop near the bridge over river Kakrahi on Basti-Naugarh road. The bus was coming from Nepal. On failure of the driver to stop the bus the Customs Officers gave a chase. Since the barrier of the Bridge was closed the bus came to stop. The detenu is said to have jumped from the driver's window and thereafter it is stated that various kinds of foreign made goods valuing at Rs. 3,28,240.00 were recovered from the possession of the detenu. Similar goods were also recovered from some other persons. On investigation it was found that the detenu was associated with the smuggling of foreign made goods. It is this event which is made the basis for passing of the detention order. The case of the detenu is that he was taken into custody on 22/6/1986 while that of the other side is that he was actually taken into custody on 27/6/1987.