Use of plural form of 'case' instead of singular by the Dindigul Collector while passing a Preventive Detention order against an alleged sexual offender invited the wrath of Madras High Court today, which quashed it.
Justices P R Shivakumar and V S Ravi advised Collectors and Commissioners of Police to be careful while using words and quashed the order, as the Collector "mechanically used the plural term cases instead of case in his order, without applying his mind."
Allowing a Habeas Corpus Petition by the mother of the sexual offender, charged with raping a 14-year-old Dalit girl with his friend in Kodaikanal early this year, the HC pointed out that the Collector had rightly stated that S Siva alias Chokkanathan (28) was facing a case there under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
The bench also stated that the offender was arrested and remanded to judicial custody and that his bail application m before the Principal District and Sessions Court in Dindigul had been dismissed on June 3.
Police feared he could obtain bail in future and hence the Collector had used the word 'cases', though the entire detention order referred to only one case pending against him, the bench said.
