SUJATA BHARDWAJ Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Smt. Sujata Bhardwaj (the wife) and Mr. Rakesh Kumar Bhardwaj - the brother of the detenu, who are interested in the personal liberty and welfare of detenu Ashwani Kumar Bhardwaj, by these two Habeas Corpus Petitions, have challenged the validity of the order of detention dated 31-8-1996 passed by the District Magistrate, Chittorgarh underT Section 3(2) of the National Security Act. The District Magistrate, Chittorgarh, on the basis of the material placed before him by the Superintendent of Police, Chittorgarh, was satisfied that the activities of Ashwani Kumar Bhardwaj are prejudicial to the maintenance of public order and, therefore, in order to prevent him to engage in such activities in future, he passed the order Annexure 2 dated 31-8-1996 under Section 3(2) of the National Security Act (for short, the Act) for his detention and sent the order of detention to the Jailor, Sub-Jail, Chittorgarh, to be served on the detenu who was confined in the Sub-Jail, Chittorgarh. The copy of the order was served on the detenu in the SubJail, Chittorgarh on the same day. This order was also served on Shri Dalip Sarker, the brother of petitioner Smt. Sujata Bhardwaj. Copies of this order were also sent to the State Government and the Central Government. A copy of this order was also sent to Smt. Sujata, the wife of the detenu, which was, served upon her also. The detenu was also informed that if he wants to make any representation to the State Government, then he can make such representation.

(2.) On 14-9-1996 the detenu submitted six copies of his representations to the Jailor, Sub-Jail, Chittorgarh who forwarded these representations to the District Magistrate, Chittorgarh, i.e., the Detaiping Authority. The Detaining Authority, on the same day, sent these representations to the State Government. Where from the representations were sent to the Central Government and the Advisory Board.

(3.) The order passed by the Detaining Authority was approved by the State Government on 9-9-1996. The representation made by the detenu was considered by the State Government and was rejected on 26-9-1996. An information regarding rejection of the representation of the detenu was conveyed to him by the Detaining Authority on 27-9-1996. The detenu appeared before the Advisory Board on 30-91996. He was heard by the Advisory Board. The Advisory Board, after considering the representation made by the detenu, approved the detention of Ashwani Kumar Bhardwaj. The State Government, after considering the report of the Advisory Board the representation made by the detenu and relevant record of the case, approved the detention into consideration the detention of Ashwani Kumar Bhardwaj for a period of one year, i.e., with effect from 3 1-8-1996 to 30-8-1997.