K.M. SUNDARAM, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER, COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA, TAMIL NADU COMMITTEE Vs. INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF POLICE AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution and Section 491, Criminal Procedure Code, for issuing a writ of habeas corpus directing the first respondent, Inspector-General of Police, Madras, to produce respondents 2 to 10 before this Court and to direct them to be set at liberty on the ground that they have been illegally arrested and detained by the first respondent without any warrant or authority of law and that their detention in consequence of such unlawful arrest was illegal and improper.

(2.) The petitioner who claims to be the Executive Committee member, Communist Party of India, Tamil Nadu Committee filed an affidavit in support of this writ petition in which he stated that the Tamil Nadu Council of the Communist Party of India had decided to launch a movement throughout Tamil Nadu with regard to land grabbing and in pursuance of the said decision, the names of all those who would lead the peaceful Satyagraha in Tamil Nadu have been announced by the party and that this movement was scheduled to begin from 15th of August, 1970. It was further stated that the second respondent, Mr. M. Kalyanasundaram as the General Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Communist Counsel and respondents 3 to 10 as the members of the Tamil Nadu Secretariat of the Communist Party decided to participate in the movement scheduled to begin from 15th August, 1970 and that they were arrested by the first respondent and under his directions on the 8th and 9th of August, 1970 as a preventive measure without any warrant or authority of law. It was then stated that they have not been informed of the reasons for their arrest and detention and that there was no necessity to arrest the respondents as they were not intending to commit any cognizable offence. It was submitted that the movement initiated by the Communist Party of India is peaceful and symbolic and it is launched with a view to express their dissatisfaction with regard to the policy adopted by the Government of Tamil Nadu towards the land distribution to the poor under the Land Ceiling Act and that such movement and organisations are guaranteed by the Constitution of India and, therefore, the arrest and detention of respondents 2 to 10 was a grave violation of fundamental rights and. their detention was illegal and not bona fide. It was also stated that respondents 2 to 10 were not produced before a Magistrate after their arrest for remand.

(3.) It is further stated that the Notification issued by the Government of Tamil Nadu in the Extraordinary Gazette dated 3rd August, 1970, under Section 10 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1932, declaring the offences under Sections 188 and 506, Indian Penal Code, as cognizable and non-bailable is unconstitutional and illegal and that the said Notification was made with a view to curb their movement.