P NEDUMARAN Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two Habeas Corpus applications are interconnected: facts alleged and questions of law arising for consideration also are common apart from the fact that the petitioner is the same and so, we are inclined to dispose of both the cases by this common judgment.

(2.) The petitioner - Sri. P. Nedumaran - swears that he is a former member of the Tamilnadu Legislative Assembly and a supporter of the cause of the Sri. Lankan Tamils. He claims that the mother of Captain V. Jayachandran, one of the detenus, instructed him to file .W.P.No.3792 of 1993 and the other detenus also instructed him through his counsel, Sri. S. Dorai Swamy, who interviewed them on 5-3-1993 at Visakhapatnam, to file the writ petition.

(3.) W.P.No.3792 of 1993 was filed for release of nine accused - (1) M/s. V. Jayachandran, (2). K. Satkunalingam, (3) V. Krishnamoorty, (4) K. Nayagan, (5) S. Sivarajan, (6) S, Indalingam, (7) A. Subhas Chandran, (8) S. Balakrishnan and (9) T. Mohan - against whom F.I.R was registered by the Harbour Police Staton, Visakhapatnam in Crime No.4 of 1993 under Section 25 of the Arms Act, 1959, Sections 3 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908, Sections 3 and 4 of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (for short the TADA Act), Section 436 (437?) I.P.C. and Section 174 Cr.P.C. The F.I.R. is pending with the designated court (Sessions Judge) under the TADA Act and by virtue of the orders passed by the learned Judge, all of them are in judicial custody in the Central Jail, Visakhapatnam.