IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE D.S.R.VARMA and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE K.C. BHANU WRIT PETITION NO : 18021 of 2008 Between: A.Raju, S/o. Veerabhadra Rao, R/o. 17-9-39, Sanjay Nagar, Kakinada. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Government of Andhra Pradesh, rep by its Chief Secretary. 2 The Collector & District Magistrate, East Godavari. 3 The Superintendent, Central Jail, Rajamundry, E.G.District. .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to to issue a writ of Habeas Corpus Under Article 226 of the Constitution of India direction the respondents to produce Allam Srinivasa Rao alias Bobby, S/o. Veerabhadra Rao, now detained in Central Prison, Rajahmundry, before this Hon'ble Court and he may be ordered to be released forthwith after declaring that his detention is illegal and void and pass Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.C.PRAVEEN KUMAR Counsel for the Respondent No.: THE ADVOCATE GENERAL The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE D.S.R.VARMA AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE K.C.BHANU Writ Petition No.18021 of 2008 Oral Order: (per D.S.R.Varma, J.) Heard Sri C.Padmanabha Reddy, learned Senior Counsel, representing Sri C.Praveen Kumar, learned Counsel appearing for petitioner and the learned Assistant Government Pleader attached to the oﬃce of the Advocate General for respondents 1 to 3. 2. This writ petition is ﬁled challenging the impugned Preventive Detention Order, dated 01-7-2008, passed by respondent No.2 and as approved and conﬁrmed by respondent No.1, wherein and whereby the brother of the petitioner, by name Allam Srinivasa Rao @ Bobby, was declared as ‘Goonda’ as deﬁned under Section 2(g) of the Andhra Pradesh Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Boot- Leggers, Dacoits, Drug-Oﬀenders, Goondas, Immoral Traﬃc Oﬀenders and Land Grabbers Act, 1986 (for brevity, ‘the Act, 1986’). 3. Section 2(g) of the Act, 1986 reads thus: “ ‘goonda’ means a person, who either by himself or as a member of or leader of a gang, habitually commits, or attempts to commit or abets the commission of oﬀences punishable under Chapter XVI or Chapter XVII or Chapter XXII of the Indian Penal Code.” 4. Therefore, it is obvious that only those oﬀences, which fall under the categories of Chapters XVI, XVII and XXII of the I.P.C., would attract the provisions of the Act, 1986 for the purpose of detaining a person. 5. But, from a perusal of the impugned order, it appears that there are as many as 34 instances have been cited against the alleged detenu in order to pass the order of detention. 6. Admittedly, out of the said oﬀences excepting a few, all other oﬀences are not the oﬀences incorporated under Chapters XVI, XVII and XXII of the I.P.C. Therefore, the impelling circumstance for this Court to arrive at the conclusion is that irrelevant instances have been incorporated in the order of detention, it is not as though a stray incident has been cited. 7. As already pointed out, good number of oﬀences have been cited, which are not relevant at all and which do not fall under the prescribed categories of the Act, 1986. 8. Having regard to the said facts, we have no other option except to set aside the impugned order. 9. In the result, this writ petition is allowed and the impugned detention order, dated 01-7-2008, passed by respondent No.2 herein is set aside. The detenue, by name Allam Srinivasa Rao @ Bobby, S/o.Veerabhadra Rao, who is now detained in Central Prison, Rajahmundry, East Godavari district shall be released forthwith, if not required in any other offence. ___________________ JUSTICE D.S.R.VARMA ___________________ JUSTICE K.C.BHANU 10th September, 2008. Ak ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{LS}