HC quashed preventive detention order against brother of Arjun Rampal’s girlfriend

The division bench of justice Revati Mohite-Dere and justice Prithviraj Chavan struck down the detention order primarily in view of the fact that the joint secretary in the ministry of finance had served on him the grounds of detention and supporting documents recorded in Hindi – a language unknown to the South African national

Mumbai: The Bombay high court (HC) has recently struck down an order passed by the Centre, to keep Agisilaos Demetriades – the brother of actor Arjun Rampal’s girlfriend- Gabriella Demetriades, in detention, purportedly to prevent him from committing further drugs related offences.

A joint secretary in the Ministry of Finance, an authority under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PITNDPS) Act, 1988, had on September 21, 2021 issued an order, placing Agisilaos under detention, purportedly to prevent him from getting involved in illicit trafficking of drugs (HT)

The division bench of justice Revati Mohite-Dere and justice Prithviraj Chavan struck down the detention order primarily in view of the fact that the joint secretary in the ministry of finance had served on him the grounds of detention and supporting documents recorded in Hindi – a language unknown to the South African national.

“Serving the grounds of detention on the detenu is a very precious constitutional right,” said the bench, adding that, “Non supply of translated version of the grounds of detention would indeed tantamount to not serving the same on the detenu and would thus vitiate the detention.”

A joint secretary in the Ministry of Finance, an authority under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PITNDPS) Act, 1988, had on September 21, 2021 issued an order, placing Agisilaos under detention, purportedly to prevent him from getting involved in illicit trafficking of drugs.

The order was passed in view of the fact that he was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in October 2020 and found to be in possession of small quantities of Charas and 15 Alprazolam tablets.

The South African national had moved the high court challenging the detention order on various grounds, including that the grounds for detention and supporting documents served on him were in Hindi, which he did not understand.

The central government opposed the plea contending that Agisilaos was represented by a lawyer throughout the proceedings and the lawyer explained everything to him in the language known to the detenu and therefore there was no violation of the principles of natural justice.

The contention, however, failed to impress upon the court.

“There is absolutely nothing on record to indicate that this particular document/statement had been translated and explained to the detenu in the language which he understood,” said the bench about one crucial statement, the maker of which had revealed that he had twice supplied marijuana to Agisilaos. “No contemporaneous record has been produced to show that such an exercise had been carried out,” the bench added and ordered the detenu to be released forthwith.