In Re: Adhir Kumar Sharma

Grover, J.—This is a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution by Adhir Kumar Sarma who is also one of the petitioners in writ petition No. 372/68. He was detained by an order of the District Magistrate, Nadia, dated October 8, 1967 made u/s 3(2) of the Preventive Detention Act 1950. It is stated in the order that his detention is necessary with a view to preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order. The detention order was approved by the State Government on October 19, 1967. The case of the petitioner was referred to the Advisory Board which, after considering all the material and affording a personal hearing, reported that in its opinion there was sufficient cause for the petitioner's detention.

Pursuant to Rule Nisi issued by this Court copies of grounds of detention and other relevant orders have been produced. Most of the grounds are not at all relevant to the maintenance of public order. By way of illustration ground No. (c) may be reproduced :

"At about 12 a.m. on 7-10-66 you in a drunken condition vociferously threatened that you would assault Mrs. Purnima Kundu wife of Satyacharan Kundu of Chashapera and abused her in filthy language. You behaved in this way on the occasion of trifling disputes."

In view of our previous decisions and in particular our decision in Pushkar Mukherjee and Ors. v. State of West Bengal, decided on November 7, 1968, the petitioner is entitled to be released.

The petition is accordingly allowed and the detention order is quashed.