NASEEM AHMAD Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) K. K. Misra, J. In all the above three writ petitions, the impugned detention orders dated 13-9-2005 passed by the District Magistrate, Hamirpur have been challenged. The impugned detention orders were passed on the basis of one and the same incident, hence all the above three writ petitions are disposed of by a common order.

(2.) IT is stated in the grounds of detention, Annexure-2 to the petition, that on 30-7-2005, the petitioner Naseem Ahmad along with other accused persons armed with fire-arms, Kulhari, Banka etc. fired indiscriminately upon one Randhir Singh when he reached near the Chabutara of temple for worship. IT is further stated that when he entered the room near the temple to save his life, the accused persons chased him and killed him with Kulhari and Banka. The accused persons dragged his dead-body and threw outside the temple. The accused persons shouted aloud to cut the dead-body in pieces and threatened all others of the same consequences. To create an atmosphere of terror and panic, they fired towards the people present there, as a result of which the people present there shut the doors and windows of their houses and remained inside. When a Scheduled Caste lady Vimla Sonkar tried to see outside opening the window, the accused persons entered her house after breaking the door and fired upon her. She fell down in the Courtyard after being seriously injured. After the cold blooded murder, they searched for Balwan Singh alias Raju Singh for killing him who had hidden himself to save his life in the house constructed in new plot. The accused persons then threw the burning cylinder after breaking the door and wall. Then they fired upon Mangal Singh alias Abhishek Singh. They fired repeatedly to create atmosphere of terror and fear. Some other persons of the locality were also injured by their indiscriminate firing. Calm resembling cremation ground prevailed in the area due to this incident and public life was paralyzed. No one could dare to come out of his house for half an hour and the public order was completely disturbed. An F. I. R. in this regard was filed as case crime No. 499 of 2005 under Sections 147, 148, 149, 307, 302, 452 and 34 IPC at P. S. Sumerpur, District Hamirpur. Later on, injured Vimla Sonkar also died. This incident of double murder caused great sensation and atmosphere of fear and terror prevailed in the township of Sumerpur and other adjoining localities. Higher administrative and police authorities visited the place of occurrence and additional police force and armed police forces had to be deployed to maintain public order in the locality and to restore confidence of the people. The news of this incident got wide coverage in the local newspapers. On these facts, the District Magistrate, Hamirpur thought it fit to pass impugned detention orders against the petitioners.

(3.) LEARNED Counsel for the petitioners vehemently argued that from a perusal of the grounds of detention, it becomes clear that only one incident has been mentioned therein which was a result of personal enmity relating to land dispute. He further argued that the crime was committed against a particular person, and not against the public at large and, therefore, it is a question of law and order only and it had noting to do with the public order.