PUNEET Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition is preferred against the order of detention passed by District Magistrate, Etawah under Section 3(2) of the National Security Act. A copy of the order of detention has been filed as Annexure-1 to the writ petition.

(2.) The grounds of detention are contained in Annexure-2 dated 9/02/1998. Only one ground, which is indicated in the grounds of detention, is the incident which is said to have taken place on 11-1-1998 at about 5-45 a.m. near Chhimara Tiraha, police station Vedpura district Etawah. The case as indicated, is that the detenu alongwith others entered into a private bus which was going from Etawah to Mainpuri and resorted to firing as a result of which two persons sitting behind the seat of the driver, namely, Man Singh and Smt. Mahur wife of Chandra Bhan Singh died. A case crime No. 2/98 under Section 302, I.P.C. was registered at the police station Vedpura, district Etawah. The petitioner, it appears, was prosecuted and the criminal trial ended in acquittal. A copy of the judgment of acquittal in Sessions Trial No. 167 of 1998 has been filed along with Misc. Application No. 76379 of 1998 with the request that the same may be taken on the record. A perusal of the judgment of the Sessions Trial dated 21-11-1998 shows that eye-witnesses of the incident had turned hostile having denied to have seen the occurrence as a whole and the Court held that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against the accused persons, hence the order of acquittal was passed.

(3.) Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that on acquittal of the detenu in the criminal trial for the offence which was the sole ground in the detention order, there remains no material on the basis of which the order of detention could be sustained. The submission is that it is a case where the detention order is rendered without any basis and material in support thereof. In this connection reliance has been placed on a Full Bench decision of this Court in Ram Prasad Chaudhary v. State of U. P., reported in 1986 All Cri C 186 : (1986 All LJ 916). The factual position was almost similar in that case as well, namely, the detenu was acquitted in the criminal trial during currency of the period of detention. The Full Bench after considering several authorities came to the conclusion that if the order of acquittal passed in favour of the detenu is found to be based on charges which have not been substantiated in regular trial then that incident cannot be made the basis of ground of detention.