By Aditya Singh Raghav
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Habeas corpus means “to have the body of”. It is an order of release of a person wrongfully detained. The court orders the concerned authority to present the arrested person before the High Court or Supreme Court. The object of this writ is to check whether the detention of an individual is just or not and the Court may order the release if such detention is found to be illegal or the detaining authority cannot provide reasonable justification for the detention.
This writ can be issued to both private and public authorities. This writ can be issued to secure the custody of minor or a lunatic person, to test validity of detention by executive during emergency and to test validity of detention under preventive detention laws.
Who can file for writ?
An application for writ can be made by the person who is illegally detained, but in certain cases, even a friend or relative of such person can apply for writ of Habeas Corpus.
When can Habeas Corpus be issued?
• When the person detained is not produced before a magistrate within 24 hours of arrest
• There has been no violation of laws and authority was exercised mala fide
• Reason of arrest of an individual under law in unconstitutional
When can Habeas Corpus not be issued?
• When detention or arrest is lawful
• It was held in A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras (AIR 1950 SC.27) that if a fresh and valid offer justifying the detention is made by the time to return the writ then the court cannot release the person and initial grounds for arresting are neglected
• If detention is outside the jurisdiction of the courts or if the detention is done by a competent court, habeas corpus cannot be issued
• If contempt of court is in question
In Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration (AIR 1980 SC.1579), the Supreme Court treated the letter sent by a co-convict on torture being done to his fellow convict as a petition for habeas corpus. The Court held that writ can also be issued for protecting prisoners from inhumane behavior. In ADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla (1976 AIR 1207, 1976 SCR 172) the Court held that “writ of habeas corpus is a process of securing the liberty of an individual by providing relief from illegal detention”. Thus habeas corpus is issued to protect the liberty of citizens against illegal detention.
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Aditya is a 2nd year law student at National Law University Delhi. An adventurous person, he actively participates in sports activities and loves to go trekking. He is a football fan and you can easily find him discussing football matches with his friends. His interests include Commercial Law, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law and Competition Law.
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