GIRINDRA NATH BANERJEE Vs. BIRENDRA NATH PAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this case an application was made to Mr. Justice Buckland, purporting to be in the Original Civil v Jurisdiction of this Court for the issue of a writ of habeas corpus, on behalf of one Girindra Nath Banerjee whom I will call "the applicant." The general circumstances giving rise to the application are these. The applicant wa3 arrested on the 25 day of October 1924 at his the then Residence No. 4/3 Malanga Lane in the town of Calcutta. He was kept in custody at the Alipore Central Jail and afterwards at the Midnapore Central Jail. After he had been in custody for some time an order, dated the 19 January 1925, was made under Ordinance No, 1 of 1924 that he should be committed to custody in the Midnapore Jail. On the 12 June 1926 he was served with an order made by the Government of Bengal under the Bengal Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1925, by which he wa3 directed to proceed to Midnapore, to report himself to the Superintendent of Police there, to proceed afterwards direct to the police-station of a certain village in that District and to reside until further orders in that village. He was directed to reside in premises defined and approved by the Superintendent of Police; he was prohibited from leaving such premises at night or from interviewing visitors : he was also directed to report himself twice daily to the officer at the police-station. He was prohibited from receiving visits without permission and was not to converse, communicate or associate with school boys or school masters or to attend at any meeting. He had to deliver unopened to the officer in charge of the police-station all communications sent to him by letter, telegram or otherwise. In particular he was directed not to go beyond certain limits defined in the order.

(2.) The applicant at the day of his application to this Court was the subject of another order made by the Government of Bengal under the same Act and dated the 29 November 1926. That order was similar in its terms to the one I have already referred to and it directed him in effect, to go to the Canning Town police-station in the District of the 24-Perganas and to reside in premises defined and approved by the Superintendent of Police there, the restrictions which I have already mentioned being repeated. In particular, the applicant was prohibited from exceeding certain limits defined in that order, viz., on the north Bidyadhari river, on the east Matla river, on the south Canning Town Bazar, on the west siding line from Canning Railway Station up to Bidyadbari river.

(3.) The applicant had been arrested and detained in jail between October 1924 and some subsequent date; but long before the date of his application to this Court he was not a person who was being detained in jail. His exact position was defined by Section 11 of the Bengal Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1925. That was an Act passed by the local legislature of Bengal. It was made by the Governor of Bengal under the provisions of Section 72E of the Government of India Act. It was made with the previous sanction of the Governor-General under Sub-section (8) of Section 80A of the said Act. The terms of this enactment, so far as it affects the present question, are to be found in Secs.11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. Section 11 prescribes that where in the opinion of the Local Government there are reasonable grounds for believing that any person has committed or is about to commit certain acts in the nature of offences the Local Government, if it is satisfied that he is a member, or is being controlled or instigated by the member of any association of which the object or methods include the doing of any such acts or the commission of any of such offences, may, by order in writing, give certain directions. These directions are : That ha should notify his residence, report himself to the police, reside or remain in a specified area, be committed to custody in jail. The sanction attaching to such an order is that contained in Section 15 of the Act.