A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday upheld the order detaining Akash Thillankeri and Jijo Thillankeri, accused in the case relating to the murder of Youth Congress activist Shuhaib and other cases, including gold smuggling ones, under the Kerala Anti-social Activities (Prevention) Act (KAAPA), 2007.
The Bench comprising Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque and Justice Sophy Thomas passed the verdict while dismissing the petitions filed by the father of Akash and wife of Jijo challenging the detention order.
The court observed that going by the nature of offence committed and the nature of involvement of the detenue, the activity of the detenu was prejudicial to society and unless they were restrained by a detention order, recurrence of the commission of offence could not be prevented. The object of enquiry under the KAAPA was to protect public order and to protect larger interest of the community. The detention order had to be viewed from the larger public interest of society and not from the stand point of the individual whose liberty was subjected to the process of detention.
The petitioners contended that the detenues had acted against the present leadership of the Communist party and that resulted in invoking proceedings under the KAAPA. It was also argued that there was a long delay in passing the order after the last prejudicial activity.
Dismissing the arguments, the court observed that the Bench was unable to accept the argument for the reason that the person against whom mala fide was attributed was not in the party array.
