Delhi HC asks judicial officer to visit detention centre to check living conditions
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has directed a judicial officer to visit a detention centre here, which is alleged to be in a pathetic condition with no medical facilities and detainees are not being permitted to communicate with their families.
The court's direction came while hearing a plea by an Indian woman, whose husband, alleged to be a Pakistani national is kept in a detention centre here after completing his jail sentence.
She alleged that no legal aid is provided to the detainees and the premises lack cleanliness and hygiene.
A bench of Justices J R Midha and Brijesh Sethi directed the Principal District and Sessions Judge (HQ) to depute a judicial officer to visit the detention centre, Sewa Sadan Deportation Centre Lampur Village in Delhi, and inspect it with respect to the conditions prevailing there.
If the concerned judicial officer finds any shortcomings in the detention centre, immediate steps shall be taken by the concerned authorities to remove the shortcomings within a specified time and the judicial officer shall again visit the detention centre to verify whether the shortcomings have been removed or not, the bench said and added that the report is filed before the court in a sealed cover before the next date of hearing on December 16.
The court also permitted the woman's counsel to submit a short note with respect to her grievances to the concerned judicial officer.
Ruma Bibi has filed a habeas corpus petition seeking the release of her husband Asif Hossain from the centre.
Advocates Ajay Verma and Mehak Nakra, representing the woman, submitted that the petitioner's husband has been detained in the detention centre where the condition is very pathetic for want of cleanliness and hygiene and no medical facilities are being provided there.
The council claimed that the detainees are not permitted to communicate with the family and their counsel and no legal aid is provided to them and urged the court to direct a judicial officer to visit the detention centre and inspect it.
The woman, in her plea, said she along with her husband and two children used to live at Kolkata and in 2012, Hossain was arrested from the New Delhi Railway Station under the Official Secrets Act and the Foreigner's Act.
He was convicted and sentenced by the trial court for nine years and after completion of sentence, he was released from jail in April this year and sent to Sewa Sadan Deportation Centre in Narela for the purpose of deportation.
The plea said that a representation was filed to the concerned authorities for his release as he has been detained illegally in the deportation centre, but the concerned authorities paid no heed to it.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
