Mumbai: The Bombay High Court recently quashed a detention order passed against a detenue on the grounds that the prosecution failed to provide him with the statements by witnesses in Urdu, a language he understood, instead of Marathi.
The court took cognizance of the fact that the detenue, Shahabaz Ahmed Mohammad Yusuf was booked under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities (MPDA) Act was not served with the Urdu translation of the statements made by the statement, and so he was denied the constitutional right to effectively challenge the detention order, Bar ad Bench reported.
The Bench of Justices Sarang V Kotwal and SM Modak observed that the witness statements rendered in Marathi were not provided in its Urdu translation to detenue Shahabaz Ahmed Mohammad Yusuf who was familiar with only Urdu.
Therefore, the court observed that the detenue was deprived of making the earliest effective representation challenging the order of the detention, and his right under Article 22(5) of the Constitution of the India was denied to him. The court quashed the detention.
Yusuf was detained under the MPDA Act on July 30, 2024 based on his alleged involvement in a series of criminal activities.
He stood accused of committing several crimes between 2018 and 2020 including assault and robbery. The detention order primarily relied on a criminal case from March 2024, where Yusuf and his accomplices allegedly assaulted the complainant and robbed him of his mobile phone and cash.
Ttwo in-camera statements made referred to by the prosecution by witnesses (A and B) who had witnessed separate incidents in January and February 2024, including assault and theft, were all in Marathi.
Yusuf's counsel also raised the argument that the detention order was passed after an unreasonable delay and no urgency was shown by the authorities despite the alleged criminal activities. This was in addition to the failure to provide the in-camera statements in Urdu, but only in Marathi in which the witnesses gave the statement.
This rendered Yusuf unable to effectively challenge the detention.
In its ruling, the Court found merit in the arguments. The Court noted that while the detenue had been provided the detention order and grounds for detention in Urdu, the in-camera statements of witnesses, which were crucial to the case, were not translated and were served only in Marathi
These statements made by witnesses who had seen the detenue's alleged crimes, were integral to the detention decision.
The Court also found that the delay in passing the detention order was unexplained. out the unexplained and not justified. The court directed Yusuf's
Advocate Aisha Z Ansari appeared for Yusuf.