Kerala High Court
Arun S vs The District Police Chief on 5 April, 2024
Author: Raja Vijayaraghavan
Bench: V Raja Vijayaraghavan
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJA VIJAYARAGHAVAN V
&
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE P.M.MANOJ
FRIDAY, THE 5TH DAY OF APRIL 2024 / 16TH CHAITHRA, 1946
WP(CRL.) NO. 359 OF 2024
PETITIONER/S:
ARUN S , AGED 23 YEARS
S/O. SUNIL, ATHIRA BHAVAN KODUMPALLY, VAKKOM
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM DISTRICT, PIN - 695308
BY ADVS.
SHYNI DAS J.S.
THANUJA ROSHAN
APPU AJITH
RESPONDENT/S:
1 THE DISTRICT POLICE CHIEF
OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT POLICE CHIEF, VIKAS BHAVAN P.O,
TRIVANDRUM DISTRICT, PIN - 695033
2 THE STATION HOUSE OFFICER
KAZHAKUTTAM POLICE STATION, TRIVANDRUM DISTRICT,
PIN - 695012
3 NAZAR M K , AGED UNKNOWN, OTHER DETAILS NOT KNOWN,
MANAKKATTUVILAKAM KARIYIL, KAZHAKKUTTOM PO
TRIVANDRUM DISTRICT, PIN - 695582
4 SHEMI.A , AGED UNKNOWN, OTHER DETAILS NOT KNOWN,
MANAKKATTUVILAKAM KARIYIL, KAZHAKKUTTOM PO
TRIVANDRUM DISTRICT., PIN - 695582
OTHER PRESENT:
SRI SAIGI JACOB PALATTY, SR. GP.
THIS WRIT PETITION (CRIMINAL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON
05.04.2024, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
2
W.P.(Crl.) No.359 of 2024
JUDGMENT
Raja Vijayaraghavan, J.
The petitioner states that he is in love with the corpus, ['Miss. X' for the
sake of brevity], the daughter of respondents 3 and 4. He states that since
they belong to different religions, the party respondents have objected to
their relationship. According to him, he has received credible information that
Miss. X is illegally kept under captivity by her parents. Apprehending harm to
Miss X, the petitioner is before this Court seeking directions to the official
respondents to produce the corpus before this Court and to set her at liberty.
2. By order dated 2.4.2024, we directed the official respondents to
ensure that the alleged detenu is produced before the District Legal Services
Authority, Thiruvananthapuram in order enable us to interact with her through
video conferencing. Directions were also issued to ensure that at the time of
video conferencing, the detenu was alone.
3. In terms of the directions, we have interacted with the detenu for
quite some time to ascertain her wishes. She states that she and the
petitioner had worked in the same establishment and they were in love.
However, she says that she is not under illegal detention. She states that all
her certificates are with the petitioner. All that she requested was to issue
directions to the petitioner to return the certificates.
4. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, Miss Shyny Das,
submitted that all the certificates shall be handed over to the Secretary,
District Legal Services Authority, Thiruvananthapuram before 11.00 am on
06.04.2024.
5. In a petition for issue of writ of Habeas Corpus, we are primarily
concerned with the question whether the alleged detenu is detained against
her wish, will and desire by anyone. The correctness, prudence or wisdom of
the decisions of the alleged detenu are not justiciable before the Court. The
alleged detenu, as noted earlier, is an adult woman, she had already attained
majority.
5. As she has stated before us that she is not under illegal detention,
that is the end of the matter. In that view of the matter nothing further
survives. The petitioner shall return the certificates as undertaken.
This writ petition is closed.
sd/-
RAJA VIJAYARAGHAVAN V
JUDGE
sd/-
P.M.MANOJ
JUDGE
das
APPENDIX OF WP(CRL.) 359/2024
PETITIONER EXHIBITS
Exhibit P1 A TRUE COPY OF THE PETITIONER EMPLOYMENT ID
CARD
Exhibit P2 A TRUE COPY OF THE PHOTOS OF THE PETITIONER
AND DETENUEE, DATED NILL
Exhibit P3 A TRUE COPY OF THE SCREENSHOT OF THE LAST
MESSAGE OF THE DETENUEE TO THE PETITIONER
Exhibit P4 A TRUE COPY OF THE COMPLAINT FILED BY THE
PETITIONER DATED 25/03/2024
Exhibit P5 A TRUE COPY OF THE POSTAL RECEIPT DATED
25/03/2024
