SHER ALI Vs. SUPERINTENDENT DISTRICT JAIL MUZAFFARNAGAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PRESENT petition has been preferred against the detention order dated 16.4.2009, passed by District Magistrate, Muzaffarnagar (arrayed as respondent No. 2 in the instant petition). The reliefs sought herein if translated in English would substantially read as under : "1. Issue an order or direction or writ in the nature of habeas corpus commanding opposite parties to release the petitioner forthwith.

(2.) ISSUE an order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the impugned detention order dated 16.4.2009, passed by opposite party No. 2." A brief resume of the facts stated in the writ petition is that the petitioner has been slapped with detention order after he was falsely implicated in crime under Section 3/5/8 of the Cow Slaughter Act, vide Case Crime No. 803 of 2009, registered pursuant to F.I.R. dated 4.4.2009 on the allegation that the police of P.S. Kotwali was tipped by the informer on 4.4.2009 at 2.45 p.m., that the accused had slaughtered cows in the house of one Shafi Pathan in locality Dakshini Khalapar and the beef was being processed for being transported to Haryana by loading in a Maruti Car attended with the allegation that when the police raided the place one of the accomplice of the accused namely Anshu, son of Yasin succeeded in escaping ; that at the time the accused was arrested he had in his hand implement used for slaughtering the cow and chopping the beef ; that the police recovered beef from the place of occurrence and also the car from the dickey of which one quintal beef was recovered. The implements and the meat recovered from the place of occurrence were sealed and deposited in the Kotwali. 2. We have also traversed upon the impugned order of detention in which it is stated that the incident received wide publication in the local newspapers and as a result it led to heightened tension in a communally sensitive place which had mixed population and the people belonging to Hindu community took to street to protest over the incident. The shops it is further stated were closed down and people ran helter skelter taking shelter in the safety of their respective places and that the reinforcement was rushed to the place of occurrence where normalcy could be restored with great difficulty.

(3.) FROM the submissions advanced across the bar, it would crystallize that there was no delay in disposing of the representation in so far as State Government is concerned and the grievance of the petitioner pivots on inordinate delay in disposing of the representation by the Central Government. We have scrutinised the counter-affidavit filed by Smt. L. P. Srivastava, Under Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi. In para 5, it is averred that the representation of the detenu dated 23.4.2009 received on 1.5.2009, through District Magistrate, Muzaffarnagar vide letter dated 27.4.2009. The representation forwarded by State Government by means of letter dated 29.4.2009 was received in the concerned section on 13.5.2009. The same was considered together with report under Section 3 (5) of the National Security Act on 29.5.2009. The matter, it is averred, was processed at the level of Under Secretary and Joint Secretary and was placed before the Union Home Secretary on 1.8.2009. The Union Home Secretary, it is averred, considered the representation alongwith connected papers which was discountenanced on 2.6.2009 and the file was sent on onward transmission of the order to Joint Secretary (I.S.). The file, it is further averred, reached the concerned desk on 4.6.2009 and the same day, the order was communicated to the detenu through Home Secretary, Government of U. P. followed by letter dated 8.6.2009 by which all the authorities were communicated to inform the detenu accordingly. In para 6, it is averred that the dealing Assisstant who was seized of the matter, proceeded on leave spanning 20 days on medical ground attended with averments that in and about the time, large number of representations had been received particularly from the Government of Uttar Pradesh and hence there was accumulation of work.