MANOJ CHANGDEV JADHAV Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is one more case where the most enshrined principle of liberty in the Indian Constitution has been trampled upon while directing detention of the Petitioner by order dtd. 13/3/2024, as the Detaining Authority, the Commissioner of Police, Pune City, Pune, has directed his detention in exercise of powers conferred under Sub-sec. 2 of Sec. 3 of the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Slumlords, Bootleggers, Drug-Offenders, Dangerous Persons, Video Pirates, Sand Smugglers and Persons engaged in Black Marketing of Essential Commodities Act, 1981 (MPDA Act), on the ground that it is necessary to detain him so as to prevent him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order. By a committal order dtd. 13/3/2024, he is directed to be detained in Akola Prison, Akola, and since then he has continued to remain in detention.

(2.) On the same date, he was communicated with the grounds of detention in terms of Sec. 8 of the Act of 1981, and the grounds described him as a weapon weilding dangerous recidivist of violent nature indulging in criminal activities that foster terror in the society. It also added that he had become a perpetual danger to the life and properties of the people residing and carrying out their daily activities and vocations in the jurisdiction of Hadapsar Police Staion, Pune. The subjective satisfaction of the Detaining Authority is based upon two CR's registered against him in Hadapsar Police Station, Pune, which are under investigation and two in-camera statements of witness "A" and witness "B".

(3.) Based upon the said material, the Detaining Authority has expressed subjective satisfaction that he is 'Dangerous Person', as defned in Sec. 2(b-1) of the Act as he has unleashed a reign of terror and had become perpetual danger to the society at large in the area of Hadapsar Police Station where people were experiencing a sense of insecurity and living under a shadow of constant fear.