Surinder Singh vs State of Punjab

K.P.S. Sandhu, J.

This is a habeas corpus Petition under: Articles 22/227 of the Constitution of India filed by Surinder Singh petitioner praying therein that the order of detention of Jaswant Singh son of Harnam Singh, detenu, be quashed.

The facts which gave rise to the petition are that one Gurdip Singh and Jaswant Singh detenu were apprehended by the Custom and Central Excise Preventive Staff, Ludhiana Division, at House No. 827, Kutcha No. 1 Field Ganj, Ludhiana, belonging to Jaswant Singh detenu. Jaswant Singh detenu and Gurdip Singh were found in possession of 697 pieces of wrist watches and 82 pieces of chains of foreign origin of the value of Rs. 1,85,540/ which they had purchased from various pedlars at Bombay without any bill, vocher or any, other document showing their legal import. They smuggled these articles and brought them to Ludhiana on 22nd July, 1983. The watches and chains were seized by the Custom and Central Excise Preventive Staff. Both Gurdip Singh and Jaswant Singh detenu made confessional statements before, the officers of the Custom and Central Excise Preventive Staff, Ludhiana Division on 22nd July. 1983. A copy of the confessional statement of Jaswant Singh detenu. is annexed as P2 to the petition. It is alleged in the petition that on 23rd July, 1983 Jaswant Singh sent a telegram to the Collector, Customs. Chandigarh, stating therein that confession had been obtained under threat and pressure and thereby retracted from the same The Governor of Punjab (detaining authority) after going through the material placed before him was pleased to order the detention of Gurdip Singh and Jaswant Singh on 1751984 under section 3(1) of the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974. Copy of the detention order of Jaswant Singh Annexure P6. The grounds of detention were supplied to the detenu under the signatures of Deputy Secretary Government of. Punjab, Home Department. Translation of the same is also contained in Annexure P6, Annexed to the petition.

Darshan Singh had earlier filed a similar writ petition against the detention of Gurdip Singh which was allowed by me vide order dated July 24, 1984. The ground taken up by Darshan Singh in that petition was that the telegram by which Gurdip Singh retracted the confession was not placed before the detaining authority. Had the same been placed before the detaining authority, it would have its effect one way or the other on the detaining authority. The custom department did not deny the receipt of the telegram in that case The present petitioner has, also on similar terms, averred in the petition that Jaswant Singh detenu had also sent a telegram and retracted the confession made by him. but it appears, now, that the department has become wiser after the decision of the earlier writ petition and has denied the receipt of the telegram. Be that as it may, the fact remains that there is time gap of ten months between the prejudicial activities of the detenu and the order of detention passed by the detaining authority for which no explanation, has come forth. In this situation, it cannot be said that the ground that the detenu was found in possession of smuggled articles in July, 1983, furnishes a nexus to the purpose for which the detention order was passed in May, 1984 Support for this view can be sought from S.K. Abdul Munnaf v. The State of W.B., AIR 1974 SC 2066, wherein their Lordships were pleased to hold that if in a given case the timelag between the prejudicial activity of a detenu and the detention order made because of that activity is ex facie long. the detaining authority should explain the delay in the making of the detention order with a view to show that there was proximity between the prejudicial activity and the detention order.

In this view of the matter, this petition succeeds and the detention of Jaswant Singh detenu, under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974, is set aside.