ZAMIR QASIM Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application by Syed Zamir Qasim under Section 491, Criminal P.C. The applicant was arrested in October 1947, and was ordered by the District Magistrate of Allahabad to be detained for three months from 13 October 1947, under Section 3(1)(a), U.P. Maintenance of Public Order (Temporary) Act, 4 of 1947. As the period of detention was expiring, a fresh order was passed by the District Magistrate on 5 January 1948, and was communicated to the applicant on 8 January 1948, and his further detention for a period of three months was ordered.

(2.) It is not in dispute in this case that the provisions of Secs.3 and 5 of Act 4 of 1947 have been complied with. The contention on behalf of the applicant, however, is that there is no provision in the Act for extension of the period of detention and that the District Magistrate could not pass a fresh order for his detention on the same materials on the basis of which he had passed the previous order and had considered that it would be sufficient to detain him for & period of three months.

(3.) The point raised in this case is of general importance because it may arise in a number of cases. There is no provision in Act 4 of 1947 which provides for the extension of an order, made under Section 3(1)(a). The contention, on behalf of the Crown, is that this is not an extension but that a fresh order has been passed detaining the applicant for a certain further period. Technically, it is true that the order under which the applicant has now been detained is a fresh order, having been passed on 5 January 1948; but in reality, it merely extends the period of detention from three months to six months. It seems to me that if it was the intention of the Act that orders of detention were to be passed successively in bits, the Act would have specifically provided for an extension of such orders. The provisions of Section 4 of the Act are, in my opinion, of assistance in determining this question. That section reads as follows: An order made under Section 3 by the Provincial Government shall, unless revoked earlier, remain in force for a period of six months from the date of such order: Provided that any such revocation shall not prevent the making under Section 3 of a fresh order, to the game effect.