The Bombay high court recently quashed an order relating to externment that was passed by Kolhapur SP and confirmed by Maharashtra home department, calling them “absolutely illegal”. The HC observed that there was no evidence in the orders against the petitioner that determined whether he was a gang member or leader of a gang.
A division bench of Justices S.C. Dharmadhikari and S.B. Shukre had on July 17 reserved the order and pronounced it on August 16. “There is no other material mentioned in the order that is relevant for determining as to whether or not the petitioner is a leader or member of a gang or body of persons,” the bench stated.
Ahammad Mainuddin Shaikh had an externment order by the Kolhapur SP passed against him on January 15 under Section 55 (dispersal of gangs and bodies of persons), this year, and the same was confirmed by the state home department on April 30.
The bench observed that it was clear that the criminal cases against the alleged gang members were more individualistic in nature than collective and didn’t show that these persons got together and indulged in criminal acts as a group.
“Therefore, the very first requirement of Section 55 is not satisfied in this case, and on this ground alone, the order passed by the externing authority and also the order of the appellate authority confirming it, deserve to be quashed and set aside,” ruled the court.
The court also pulled up both the respondents for showing discrimination between the alleged members of the gang and the petitioner. “So, on this ground also, we find that the impugned orders are absolutely illegal and cannot be sustained in law,” it observed.
Shaikh had also contended that copies of the reports dated February 9, 2010 and March 16, 2011, submitted by the police inspector of Laxmipuri police station, Kolhapur, to the superintendent of police weren’t provided to him, thereby denying him an opportunity to properly defend himself.