NARESH CHANDRA GANGULI FOR SHRI RAM PRASAD DAS Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal, on a certificate of fitness granted by the Calcutta High Court, is directed against the order of that Court, dated January 8, 1959, in Criminal Miscellaneous Case No. 126 of 1958, refusing to issue a writ in the nature of habeas corpus in respect of one Ram Prasad Das (who will here- in-after be referred to its 'the petitioner'). This Court, by an order dated April 20, 1950, directed that the application of the petitioner under Art. 32 of the Constitution, for a similar writ in respect of the same person be posted for hearing immediately after the aforesaid criminal appeal, and that it shall not be necessary that the petitioner be produced before this Court at the time of the hearing of the writ petition. Hence, both the matters, relating as they do, to the same subject-matter, have been heard together and will be disposed of by this judgment.

(2.) It appears that Naresh Chandra Ganguli, an advocate, practising in the Calcutta High Court, made an application under Ss. 491 and 561 A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, as a friend, on behalf of the petitioner, in detention in the Dum Dum Central Jail in 24 Parganas, under the orders of the Government of West Bengal. The application was made to the Calcutta High Court on the following allegations:The petitioner is the Secretary of the West Bengal Committee of the Bharatiya Jana Sangha, one of the four big political parties, as recognised by the Election Commission of India. On or about October 7, 1958, towards evening, when the petitioner was coming out of the Basanta Cabin, a tea stall, at the crossing of the College Street and Surya Sen Street, after having addressed a meeting at the College Square, he was stopped on the street by the police and was taken to the office of the Special Branch (Police) on Lord Sinha Road. From there, he was sent to the Dum Dum Central Jail, where he was served with an order, being Order No. 83 dated October 7, 1958, purporting to have been made by the Commissioner of Police, Calcutta, under the provisions of the Preventive Detention Act (IV of 1950) (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'). The order is in these terms:

(3.) On or about October 11, 1958, the petitioner was served with another order which is in these terms: