The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday sought State government response in a plea challenging the invocation of the National Security Act (NSA) to detained Pravesh Shukla, who is accused of urinating on a tribal man in Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh.
The petitioner, Kanchan Shukla, who is the accused’s wife, claimed in the habeas corpus plea that her husband’s detention was politically motivated.
The petitioner’s counsel, Advocate Aniruddha Kumar Mishra, informed the Court that the NSA was invoked against Pravesh Shukla without providing him an opportunity to present his case to the detaining authority.
A bench of Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice Vishal Mishra, issued a notice on the plea and directed the petitioner’s advocate not to disclose hearing details to the media in the future.
A video of Shukla urinating on a tribal man, Dashmat Rawat, went viral on the internet.
Subsequently, Shukla was arrested under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and he was also charged with the NSA. He is currently in custody.
The petitioner alleged that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan “instructed” the Collector to employ the stringent provisions of the NSA to detain her husband.
As per the plea, the detention order fails to specify the duration of Pravesh’s detention and does not provide a specific justification for it.
“The detenu cannot be detained for an indefinite period and the same would not be justified for his family,” the plea stated.
