IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Crl. Writ Petition No.1099 of 2008 Date of decision: January 12, 2009 Jagdeep Kaur …. Petitioner Versus State of Punjab and Others …. Respondent Present: Mr. B.S. Bajwa, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. P.S. Sidhu, Addl. A.G., Punjab. *** S.S. SARON, J. This petition under Articles 226, 227 of the Constitution of India read with Section 482 of the Code Criminal Procedure (“CrPC” – for short) has been filed seeking a roving writ in the nature of Habeas Corpus directing respondents No.1 and 2 to get the detenu Mandeep Singh, who is the real brother of the petitioner, released from the illegal custody of respondents No.3 to 8. This Court vide order dated 14.11.2008 ordered the appointment of a Warrant Officer who was directed to visit the place(s) to see as to whether the detenu as mentioned in Para No.11 of the petition is in the illegal custody of respondents No.3 to 8 or not and in case the detenu was found in illegal custody, it was ordered he shall be got released. In compliance to the said order, the Warrant Officer has submitted his report dated 28.11.2008 in which he has inter alia stated that the detenu Mandeep Singh was found residing in a separate room in Village Raya. The Warrant Officer was taken by Paramjit Kaur (respondent No.6) to the room where Mandeep Singh was residing. Paramjit Kaur (respondent No.6) is the maternal uncle’s daughter of Crl. Writ Petition No.1099 of 2008 [2] Mandeep Singh. After loudly calling out the name of Mandeep Singh 4-5 times, he opened the door but he refused to leave the place. Mandeep Singh, however, made a statement (Annexure ‘A’ to the report) in which he stated that he was residing in the house of his maternal uncle’s daughter namely Paramjit Kaur (respondent No.6) wife of Bant Singh and he had not been detained there. He was residing there of his own desire. He was aged 27 years. The petitioner also made a statement (Annexure ‘B’ to the report) to the effect that the detenu Mandeep Singh has been found and they do not want to go further for his search. It was requested that respondents No.3 to 5, 7 and 8 be served through post. Sh. Gurjeet Singh Kaura, Advocate has put in appearance on behalf of respondents No.7 and 8 namely Harjit Kaur wife of Gurcharan Singh and Gurpreet Singh son of Manjit Singh. It is submitted that the said respondents are distantly related to Mandeep Singh (detenu) and they have nothing to do with him. Learned counsel for the petitioner, however, has submitted that in fact the detenu Mandeep Singh is suffering from mental ailment and he has been forcibly detained by his maternal uncle’s daughter Paramjit Kaur (respondent No.6) and others. It is further submitted that earlier a power of attorney was got executed from Mandeep Singh on 20.12.2002 which he later got cancelled vide cancellation deed dated 8.1.2004. It is submitted that Mandeep Singh be got examined for his mental ailment. After giving my thoughtful consideration to the matter, it may be noticed that the limited prayer that was made in the present petition was that Mandeep Singh is in illegal detention. In terms of the report of the Warrant Officer and the statement of Mandeep Singh, it is evident that he is residing in the house of Paramjit Kaur (respondent No.6) who is the daughter of maternal uncle of Mandeep Singh of his own free will. In case the petitioner has any apprehension that Mandeep Singh is not Crl. Writ Petition No.1099 of 2008 [3] mentally well, she may, if so adviced, proceed with in accordance with law for seeking a reception order. Insofar as the present petition is concerned, the same has been rendered infructuous as Mandeep Singh is not in the illegal detention of respondents No.3 to 8. Accordingly, the Crl. Writ Petition is dismissed as infructuous. (S.S. SARON) January 12, 2009 JUDGE amit