Bombay HC dissatisfied on CID report in illegal detention ca

The Bombay High Court expressed its dissatisfaction over the CID report pertaining to alleged illegal detention of two social activists by police for over 20 hours during US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to the city in July.

A division bench, consisting of Justices Bilal Nazki and A R Joshi, during the hearing of a petition filed by the activists, perused the CID report and said that according to it the petitioners were talking to each other about holding demonstration on the day of Ms Hillary’s visit. The court said that this talking itself cannot be a ground for detention and there should be guidelines for such types of actions.

The petitioners -- Feroze Mithiborwala (41) and Mohammed Aslam Ghazi (57), who were picked up from their respective homes at around 2145 hrs by plain-clothed policemen on July 17, have asked the court to order an inquiry into their ‘illegal’ detention.

While Mithiborwala was taken to MIDC police station in Andheri (east), Ghazi was kept at a police station in Kurla. The petitioners have said that despite repeated requests, the police refused to inform them why they were not being allowed to leave the police stations. Both the activists were allowed to go home after 1800 hrs on July 18.

According to the petition, the activists later learnt that they were detained as a safeguard during Ms Hillary’s visit. They claimed that their names were included in a list of ‘potential political agitators’ and thus a decision was taken by the police to detain them. Both have denied planning any demonstrations against her.

The petition states that it seeks to ‘bring to light to the routine malaise of police illegally detaining individuals without charging them and without informing them of the reason for the detention’. Their lawyer Mihir Desai told the court the police as a matter of course arrests and detains social activists to prevent any expression of dissent within constitutional means.

He alleged that detention often operates as gag orders against social activists and people working for issues of human rights.

It is also very common for the police to not maintain any traceable records or documentation of these arrests and detentions, he said, adding that therefore such illegal detentions go undocumented and unchallenged.

The court adjourned the further hearing till September 7.