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Judgment
7 paragraphs · 300 wordsA. Muhamed Mustaque, J.
This writ of habeas has been filed by the wife of the detenu.
It is seen from the impugned order that the last prejudicial activity was on 17.07.2023. The sponsoring authority submitted its report on 08.11.2023. The detention order was passed on 16.12.2023.
The petitioner is involved in four crimes. It is submitted at the Bar that in respect of the first crime, he was acquitted by the criminal court and that the last two crimes are parts of the same transaction.
The purpose of the detention order is to prevent a person from repeating commission of offences. If a crime is committed in a same place, the sponsoring authority should take appropriate action under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 2007 [for short, “KAA(P)A”] to report the matter before the detention authority. There may be situations, where the sponsoring authority requires time to collect all data to place the matter before the detention authority. In such circumstances, the delay can be condoned. But, when cases are registered in a same place, there should be a prompt action on the part of the sponsoring authority to submit the report before the detention authority. Otherwise, the delay would frustrate the entire object of KAA(P)A. In this case, the sponsoring authority took more than three months to submit its report. The delay has not been properly explained by the detaining authority in the detention order. In such circumstances, we are of the view that the live link between the last prejudicial activity and the detention order is snapped.
Therefore, the impugned order is set aside and the concerned prison authorities are directed to release the detenu forthwith, if his further detention is not otherwise required under law.
The WP(Crl) is disposed of, accordingly.