The Bombay High Court on Tuesday quashed a preventive detention order against a 30-year-old labourer from Pune after finding discrepancies between the English and Marathi versions of the grounds of detention.
A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Ranjitsinha Raja Bhonsale ruled that “the discrepancy in the two versions has caused confusion in the mind of the Petitioner and, as a result thereof, the Petitioner was unable to make effective representation to the competent Authority and his right under Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India, is violated.”
The detention order, dated November 22, 2024, had been issued by the Commissioner of Police, Pune, under Section 3(2) of the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Slumlords, Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Dangerous Persons, Video Pirates, Sand Smugglers and Persons engaged in Black-marketing Essential Commodities Act, 1981 (MPDA Act).
Authorities had classified the detainee, Sharavan alias Rahul Ashok Burungale, as a “dangerous person” based on a single attempt to murder case registered with Parvati Police Station, Pune City, along with two in-camera witness statements.
Burungale’s counsel, advocate Om N Latpate, argued that contradictions in the two versions of the detention grounds had impaired his client’s ability to challenge the order. The English version said that his bail application had been allowed, while the Marathi version correctly recorded that he was in judicial custody with the possibility of bail being granted in the future.
Accepting this argument, the court quashed the November 22 order and directed Burungale’s release from Nashik Central Prison, where he had been lodged during his detention.
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