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Union of India v. Ankit Ashok Jalan

Criminal Appeal · 2019 INSC 1276Decided 22 Nov 2019
Criminal Appeal No. 1746 of 2019
Justice Uday Umesh Lalit · Justice Indira Banerjee · Justice M.R. Shah

Background

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence intercepted a courier carrying about 8 kg of smuggled gold worth roughly Rs. 2.71 crore near Kolkata, who stated he had been engaged by two brothers (Ashok Kumar Jalan and Amit Jalan, the "detenus") to receive and deliver smuggled gold. After the detenus were arrested, confessed under the Customs Act, and remanded to judicial custody, the Detaining Authority separately passed preventive detention orders against them under the COFEPOSA Act. Ankit Ashok Jalan (son/brother of the detenus) challenged these detention orders before the Delhi High Court, which quashed them on the ground that the Detaining Authority had not properly considered a co-accused's "retraction petition" and that detention was unwarranted since the detenus were already in custody with no imminent prospect of bail. The Union of India appealed to the Supreme Court against this quashing.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court allowed the Union of India's appeal, holding that the High Court had committed a grave error in interfering with the Detaining Authority's subjective satisfaction. On examining the record, the Court found that the so-called "retraction petition" relied upon by the High Court was in fact an unsigned, unstamped handwritten order that did not inspire confidence, and that the Detaining Authority genuinely had no knowledge of any retraction at the time the detention orders were passed, so there was no suppression or non-consideration of a vital document. The Court therefore set aside the High Court's judgment, restored the detention orders, and directed that the detenus be taken back into custody immediately; it also dismissed the detenus' own special leave petition and three related writ petitions (which had separately asked the Court to reinterpret a provision of the COFEPOSA Act) since those issues were not substantively argued and fell away in light of the main decision.

Lesson Learnt

Courts reviewing a preventive detention order will scrutinise the authenticity and reliability of the documents said to undermine it before quashing the order: an unsigned, unauthenticated document on the case file is not sufficient to show that a detaining authority ignored material evidence or acted without proper satisfaction.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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