Hetchin Haokip vs The State Of Manipur

3. The brief facts of the case are as follows. The appellant’s husband, Jangkhohao Khongsai, with two others, was arrested by the police on 30 May 2017, and charged with offences under Section 400 of the I.P.C. and Section 25(1-C) of the Arms Act, 1959, allegedly for being a member of the cadre of the KLA organization, and for possession of fire arms. On 12 July 2017, the District Magistrate, Bishnupur, Manipur, passed an order of detention against him, apprehending that the detenu was likely to be released on bail. On 17 July 2017, the District Magistrate served the detenu with the grounds for his detention. On 20 July 2017, the Government of Manipur approved the order of detention.

4. The appellant filed a writ petition before the Manipur High Court, challenging the order of detention. The appellant’s contention was that the District Magistrate failed to report the detention to the State Government “forthwith,” as provided under Section 3(4) of the Act. The District Magistrate – it was urged - reported the detention after a lapse of five days, which violated Section 3(4).

16. The expression “forthwith” under Section 3(4), must be interpreted to mean within reasonable time and without any undue delay. This would not mean that the detaining authority has a period of twelve days to submit the report (with grounds) to the State Government from the date of detention. The detaining authority must furnish the report at the earliest possible. Any delay between the date of detention and the date of submitting the report to the State Government, must be due to unavoidable circumstances beyond the control of the authority and not because of administrative laxity.

17. In the present case, the District Magistrate submitted the report to the State Government on the fifth day (17 July 2017), after the date of the detention order (12 July 2017). The reason for the delay of five days is neither mentioned in the State Government’s order confirming the detention order, nor in the 9 impugned judgment. It was for the District Magistrate to establish that he had valid and justifiable reasons for submitting the report five days after passing the order of detention. As the decision in Joglekar holds, the issue is whether the report was sent at the earliest time possible or whether the delay in sending the report could have been avoided. Moreover, as the decision in Salim holds, there should be no laxity in reporting the detention to the government. Whether there were administrative exigencies which justify the delay in sending the reports must be explained by the detaining authority. In the present case, as we shall explain, this was a matter specifically placed in issue before the High Court. The District Magistrate offered no explanation. This would vitiate the order of detention.

19 In the circumstances, we allow the appeal and set aside the impugned judgment and order of the High Court dismissing the Writ Petition. In consequence, the order of detention shall stand set aside. The appeal is accordingly allowed.

...........................................CJI [DIPAK MISRA] ...........................................J [A M KHANWILKAR] ...........................................J [Dr D Y CHANDRACHUD] New Delhi;

July 20, 2018