Give Rs 2 lakh to man for illegal detention, recover amount from magistrate: HC to Maha govt

The Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court quashed a detention order passed by a magistrate in Jalgaon district against a 20-year-old man calling it illegal and a 'colourable exercise of power' and ordered the Maharashtra government to pay him Rs 2 lakh as compensation.

The amount shall be recovered from the salary of the magistrate who passed the detention order, the HC further said.

The court said the detention order has resulted in the person being kept in illegal detention, thereby affecting his fundamental rights to life and personal liberty.

The man, Dikshant Sapkale, in his plea in HC, claimed the detention order passed in July 2024 was not served upon him immediately and was handed over only in May this year when he was released on bail in another case.

As soon as he was released on bail, he was once again taken into custody based on this detention order, the plea said.

A bench of Justices Vibha Kankanwadi and Hiten Venegavkar, in its order of October 1, a copy of which was made available on Sunday, said keeping a detention order pending for several months and serving it to the person at the moment of his release amounts to a 'colourable exercise of power'.

This was a fit case to impose exemplary costs on the detaining authority as heavy compensation is required to be paid to the person who has been illegally detained, the court said while directing the Maharashtra government to pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation to Sapkale.

"The entire course of action demonstrates an arbitrary exercise of executive power. The detaining authority has been absolutely insensitive and careless while initiating the proceedings," HC said.

Due to the "unconstitutional arbitrary" behaviour of the detaining authority, the petitioner has suffered illegal and unconstitutional detention, the court said.

This was wholly unacceptable, it said.

"According to us, this is an excellent case where the authorities have abused the preventive detention law, which is an extraordinary measure, and have forgotten that the powers under this law are to be used sparingly against those criminals who are genuine threats to public order," the court said.

As per the plea, Sapkale was already in judicial custody when the detention order was passed by the Jalgaon district magistrate but it was not served upon him.

It was served to him only in May this year when he secured bail in the case he was arrested in. The detention order was held back till he got bail and came out of jail and, hence, the same was illegal and bad in law, Sapkale said in his petition.

The detention order was passed against Sapkal taking into account two criminal cases pending against him.

The HC order said preventive detention is an exceptional measure that embarks upon the rights to personal liberty and, hence, it must adhere to constitutional and statutory requirements.

The detaining authority is not authorised to sit over execution of a detention order at its pleasure, the court said.

The bench said the conduct of the authorities in keeping the detention order in "cold storage" and serving it to the accused only when he was released on bail was "serious".

No plausible explanation has been offered for the long and deliberate delay, the HC bench pointed out.

The bench also noted that relevant documents based on which the detention order was passed were given to the accused in English and not in Marathi, the language the accused understands.

Thus, the detention order suffers from multiple incurable defects, the court said while quashing it.