HC censures ex-commissioner, quashes detention of realtor under Goondas Act

Chennai: Holding that breaching of contractual obligations by a few is no threat to public order and the public safety at large, Madras high court has quashed the preventive detention order passed by the then commissioner of police, A Arun, against realtor Santhosh Sharma.

"We are more than satisfied that the ground case as well as the adverse cases do not have the potential to disturb public order. It is ridiculous to claim that they will disturb the even tempo of social life. There is absolutely no warrant for invoking the draconian law of preventive detention for such cases, a vacation bench comprising Justice G R Swaminathan and Justice V Lakshminarayanan said on Friday.

The detention stemmed from a dispute involving a residential apartment project in Kolathur, Chennai. Santhosh Sharma had entered into an agreement to construct 234 apartment units on a 2-acre and 10-cent property owned by Poornajothi, wife of L K Sudheesh, at Ramadoss Nagar. Under the agreement, 78 apartments were to be allotted to Sudheesh and Poornajothi.

Police registered a case and arrested Santosh Sharma based on a complaint, and detained him under Goondas Act after he was released on bail. Santhosh's wife filed an habeas corpus petition before the high court calling to quash the detention order, which was heard by the vacation bench.

Last week, the court had summoned Arun, who is now the director of the DVAC. The officer appeared before the bench in-person on Wednesday and justified his action.

"It is not enough that one is categorised as a Goonda for being slapped with a preventive detention order. Such a Goonda must also have acted in a manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order," the bench observed in its order, setting aside the detention order. The order also criticised the IPS officer stating he has become "habituated to issuing such orders, most of which have come to the notice of this court and quashed", referring to cases in which YouTuber Savukku Shankar and Vaaraki who were detained under Goondas Act by the orders of Arun.

"Even before us, he did not appear to feel that he had passed a wrong order. He strongly justified his conduct. He ought to be aware that a preventive detention order cannot be passed recklessly as it has serious implications on the detenu’s liberty. The detention order has been passed for extraneous reasons. We censure Arun IPS for having passed the impugned detention order," the bench said.

Maintaining that detenu Santhosh Sharma does not appear to be a paragon of virtue, the judges said they are rightly being prosecuted. “The question is whether the detenu could have been detained as a ‘Goonda’ under Tamil Nadu Act 14 of 1982," asked the judges.