Madras High Court
R.Selvam vs The Superintendent Of Police (North) on 21 August, 2023
Author: M.Sundar
Bench: M.Sundar
H.C.P.No.892 of 2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 21.08.2023
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.SUNDAR
and
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE R.SAKTHIVEL
H.C.P.No.892 of 2023
R.Selvam .. Petitioner
Vs.
1. The Superintendent of Police (North)
Mettupalayam, Pondicherry-1
2. The Inspector of Police
Laspet Police Station
Pondicherry – 605 008 .. Respondents
Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying
for issuance of a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to produce the
petitioner's daughter S.Keerthiga, daughter of R.Selvam, Hindu, aged 22
years before this Court and set her at liberty.
For Petitioner : Ms.R.Saritha
For Respondents : Mr.Ramachandramurthy
Addl. Public Prosecutor (Puducherry)
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H.C.P.No.892 of 2023
ORDER
[Order of the Court was made by M.SUNDAR, J.,] This order will now dispose of the captioned 'Habeas Corpus Petition' ['HCP' for the sake of brevity, convenience and clarity].
2. Factual matrix in a nutshell is that petitioner's daughter one Ms.S.Keerthiga, aged 22 years, pursuing Engineering course is missing from 18.02.2023; that it is the case of the petitioner that his daughter Ms.S.Keerthiga [petitioner's daughter Ms.S.Keerthiga shall hereinafter be referred to as 'absentee' solely for the sake of convenience] is in illegal custody of one Vinoth, a resident of Thookkanankuppam, Puducherry; that captioned HCP has been presented in this Court on 08.05.2023; that Hon'ble Vacation Bench requisitioned a status report from second respondent.
3. Today, Ms.R.Saritha, learned counsel on record for HCP petitioner in person in physical hearing part and Mr.Ramachandramurthy, learned Additional Public Prosecutor, Union Territory of Puducherry on Videoconferencing platform (to be noted, this is a hybrid hearing) are before us.
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4. Adverting to earlier proceedings, learned Prosecutor submitted that the absentee was duly produced before the jurisdictional Magistrate, namely Judicial Magistrate I at Puducherry on 03.06.2023 and her statement has been recorded by the learned Jurisdictional Judicial Magistrate.
5. Today, the statement recorded by the learned jurisdictional judicial Magistrate along with a report from the second respondent are before us.
6. Learned counsel on record for petitioner also perused the statement of the absentee recorded by learned jurisdictional Judicial Magistrate and the report of the second respondent.
7. This habeas Court having perused the statement recorded by the learned jurisdictional Judicial Magistrate finds that the absentee has said that she has married Thiru.Vinoth, aged 30 years on 19.02.2023 and that the very next day on 20.02.2023, they went over to the second respondent police station and made it clear that they would continue with their matrimonial life. To be noted, in the statement recorded by the learned Page Nos.3/6 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis H.C.P.No.892 of 2023 jurisdictional Judicial Magistrate on 03.06.2023, 4½ months later also, the absentee has made it clear that she is happily married to Thiru.Vinoth and she would like to continue the matrimonial tie. This means that the second respondent has done the needful and acted on the complaint of the petitioner. We also find that the learned jurisdictional Judicial Magistrate has recorded the statement of the absentee in a neat and concise manner capturing all essentials. We place on record our appreciation in this regard.
8. The sum totality sequitur of these narrative thus far is that the case on hand is not one of illegal detention or unlawful custody. Therefore, we deem it appropriate to drop the curtains on the habeas drill on hand but we make it clear that the rights and contentions of all the parties i.e., petitioner, absentee, Thiru.Vinoth and/or any other person concerned with the matter are preserved if there are collateral or connected proceedings in any other Court/s/Forum/Fora/Authority/Authorities, which shall deal with the matter on its own merits and in accordance with law untrammelled by this HCP order.
Page Nos.4/6 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis H.C.P.No.892 of 2023 Captioned HCP is disposed of as closed albeit with the aforementioned observations and preservation of rights in the aforesaid manner.
(M.S.,J.) (R.S.V.,J.)
21.08.2023
gpa
To
1. The Superintendent of Police (North)
Mettupalayam, Pondicherry-1
2. The Inspector of Police
Laspet Police Station
Pondicherry – 605 008
3. The Public Prosecutor
Puducherry
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H.C.P.No.892 of 2023
M.SUNDAR, J.,
and
R.SAKTHIVEL, J.,
gpa
H.C.P.No.892 of 2023
21.08.2023
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