Threat key to invoke Goondas Act, says HC

CHENNAI: Even one case that has the propensity of disturbing public order can be a ground for detention of a person under the Goondas Act, the Madras High Court ruled on Friday.A full bench comprising justices K N Basha, T Sudanthiram and S Nagamuthu said this while overruling a decision by a division bench earlier on the issue in the Rajendran vs Greater Chennai Police Commissioner case. Originally, a habeas corpus writ petition was filed in the Madurai Bench of the Madras HC challenging an order dated August 18, 2010 of the Madurai CoP detaining Madhavan alias Kannan under the Goondas Act.His counsel contended that the solitary incident of robbery mentioned as a ground in the case could not attract the provisions of the Goondas Act. The matter was referred to a full bench for arriving at a decision.The bench observed that to brand a person as ‘goonda’, as defined under Section 2(f) of the Act, it was absolutely necessary that there should be more than one case involving offences punishable under the IPC as enumerated in this section. However, to detain a goonda, it was not necessary that there was more than one case that had got the propensity of disturbing the maintenance of public order. Out of all the cases against him, even if a single incident had the propensity of affecting the even tempo of life and public tranquility and public order, that by itself would be sufficient to pass a valid order of detention under the Goondas Act. “There cannot be a straight-jacket formula or universal rule in respect of the number of cases as the necessity for passing the detention order depended upon the facts and circumstances of each case,” the Bench said and referred the matter back to the division bench of the Madurai Bench for final disposal of the case.