HC quashes detention under NSA of anti-Dalit violence accused

A bench of justices Pritinker Diwaker and P K Srivastava ordered the release of detenue Javed Siddiqui, arrested under the NSA allegedly for triggering violence against Dalits in Uttar Pradesh's Jaunpur district early this year.

Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court on Monday quashed a detention order under stringent National Security Act and directed forthwith release of the detenue.

A bench of justices Pritinker Diwaker and P K Srivastava ordered the release of detenue Javed Siddiqui, arrested under the NSA allegedly for triggering violence against Dalits in Jaunpur district early this year. The bench ordered "forthwith release" of Siddiqui, saying that the detention order against him was passed in undue haste by the executive authority.

The court quashed the NSA detention order on a habeas corpus plea by Javed Siddiqui, a Jaunpur-based politician.

"It is evident from the record that while extraordinary haste was shown in taking action against the petitioner, the authorities remained reluctant and there was complete inaction on their part causing an unjustified delay in processing the detenue''s representation against his detention under the NSA,” the bench said in its order.

The bench added that while exercising its power under a stringent law like NSA, the executive authority must exercise its powers with extreme care, which was lacking in the case of detention of Siddiqui.

"Where the law confers extra-ordinary power on the executive to detain a person without recourse to the ordinary law of the land and trial by courts, such a law has to be strictly construed and the executive must exercise the power with extreme care," the bench said.

As per the FIR filed against Siddiqui, a brawl among children took a violent turn followed by communal tension in Bhadethi village of Jaunpur on June 9 this year.

In the ensuing violence, over a dozen hutments of Dalits were set ablaze and massive damages were caused to the 14 other houses belonging to the scheduled caste people following a clash between two groups.

An FIR was registered against Javed along with others.

In the FIR, Javed Siddiqui was accused of attacking the Bhadethi village slums along with 80 people and indulging in riots and arson there while heaping anti-Dalit abuses on the slum inhabitants.

Siddiqui was arrested later and Jaunpur district magistrate subsequently on July 10 issued a detention order against him under section 3(2) of the National Security Act.

In his habeas corpus plea, Siddiqui contended that he was not given a fair opportunity to present his case before the UP Advisory Board, Lucknow to challenge the detention order.

He alleged that neither his representation was placed before the advisory board in time nor he was supplied relevant documents about his detention under the NSA.

PTI Report