VISHAL SHARMA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, is filed by the detenu Vishal Sharma who came to be detained pursuant to order passed by the District Magistrate, Katni dated 2nd April, 2014 (Annexure P-1) in exercise of power under Section 3(2) of the National Security Act, 1980 and which detention was confirmed by the State Government consequent to the opinion of the Advisory Board vide order dated 20th May, 2014 (Annexure P-4) issued under the signature of Under Secretary, Home Department (C-Section), Government of Madhya Pradesh. Both these decisions are subject matter of challenge in this petition.

(2.) The petitioner has raised three contentions before us. The first is on the basis of the decision of the Division Bench of this Court (Bench at Indore) in the case of Mohaseen Kureshi s/o Nasir Kureshi vs. State of Madhya Pradesh & others (W.P.No.1158/2014 decided on 1.9.2014.). The second contention is that the District Magistrate had no authority to issue order under Section 3(2) of the Act of 1980. The third contention is that the subjective satisfaction of the detaining Authority is vitiated on account of non-mentioning and non consideration of the vital fact that the petitioner/detenu was already in jail in connection with criminal case referred to in the grounds of detention in paragraph 15. The petitioner when placed under detention, pursuant to the impugned detention order was already in jail and had not applied for grant of bail in the said criminal case.

(3.) To deal with the first contention, we may advert to the relevant facts as under: