COFEPOSA detenue let off for legal aid delay

TNN / Apr 2, 2009, 04:16 IST

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The Madras high court has set aside the detention under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (COFEPOSA) Act of a man accused of smuggling poppy seeds into the country.

COFEPOSA detenue let off for legal aid delay

CHENNAI: The Madras high court has set aside the detention under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (COFEPOSA) Act of a man accused of smuggling poppy seeds into the country, holding that the authorities' failure to deal properly with his request for legal assistance to take up his case before an advisory board rendered his detention illegal.
Maninder Singh of Anna Nagar was arrested on April 4, 2008 by the directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) for the alleged smuggling of poppy seeds under the guise of green gram. The DRI had earlier seized 53 tonnes of poppy seeds, estimated to be worth Rs 1.13 crore, concealed among bags of green gram imported in the name of a firm in Puducherry.
Later, the state government detained him under the COFEPOSA Act through an order dated June 4, 2008. Singh challenged his detention through a habeas corpus writ petition.
The petitioner argued that he had given a representation to the authorities to provide him legal assistance when he appeared before the advisory board. Even though his representation was dated June 26, 2008, and the board met on July 10, his request was rejected on July 14, days after the board's meeting.

Allowing the petition, a division bench, comprising justice Elipe Dharma Rao and justice R Subbiah, noted that even though the detenu had no right under the COFEPOSA Act to appear before the board through a legal practitioner, when a representation had been made for legal assistance, it had to be considered with due application of mind. "Our endeavour to find any scrap of paper to indicate that the said request was duly considered by the Advisory Board has ended in vain," it said.
The bench also saw merit in other grounds raised by the petitioner. "We are pained to note that though the detenu requested for correct translated copies of the documents and also to furnish copies of certain other documents, they were supplied only on July 14, ie, after the meeting of the advisory board, thus defeating the very purpose of the request. The court ordered Singh to be released immediately, unless his detention was required in another case.

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