M LAXMI BAI Vs. COMMISSIONER OF POLICE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner being the mother of the person by name Gopal Singh invoked the special jurisdiction of this Court through this writ of habeas corpus praying to direct the respondents to produce her son who is presently detained , in Central Jail, Chenchalguda before this Court and to order his release forthwith after declaring his detention as illegal and void.

(2.) In the affidavit filed in support of the petition the petitioner alleged that the 1st respondent passed an order under Section 3 (2) of the Andhra Pradesh Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Dacoits, Drug-offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Land Grabbers Act, 1986 (A.P. Act No. 1 of 1986) ('the Act' for brevity) detaining her son Gopal Singh on the ground that he is a 'bootlegger' as defined in clause (b) of Section 2 of the Act and with a view to prevent him from acting in a manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order in Hyderabad City. According to the petitioner, the said order was served on 29-6-2002 and representations were made to respondents 1 and 2 and also to the Advisory Board on 12-7-2002. The 2nd respondent rejected the said representation on 19-7-2002 and the Government of Andhra Pradesh confirmed the same on 10-8-2002. It is further alleged that the detention order was passed on the ground that the petitioner's son (detenu) was found transporting Illicit Distilled (ID) liquor packets on seven different occasions, crimes were registered and charge sheets were filed in all the cases and presently he is facing trial- The petitioner contends that the detention order was passed by the "authority in a mechanical manner on vague, irrelevant and non-existing grounds and the same is liable to be set aside.

(3.) The detention order passed by the 1st respondent, who is the detaining authority, on 28-6-2002 is supported by the grounds enclosed to it and the same, in brief, reads thus: