On Friday, the Supreme Court declined to hear a mother’s appeal whose son, a law student, has been imprisoned for the past four months in accordance with a Kerala statute on the prevention of anti-social behaviour. The woman’s lawyer, who claimed the state advisory council had backed their argument against detention, was found to have failed to substantiate his claim, according to a bench made up of Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi.
Then, the attorney retracted the plea. The high court’s decision in the case was challenged by Jasheela TM, a native of Kozhikode in Kerala.
The detainee’s mother said that he has been held without charge for more than 110 days and that the Kerala High Court gave time to law enforcement in September to get the legal department’s opinion on his imprisonment.
The student was to be released immediately once the detention order was quashed, according to the plea. The case was brought up for an urgent hearing before the bench presided over by the CJI on Thursday by attorney K Varghese. On Thursday, the CJI had instructed, “List it for tomorrow.” Kerala, the Advisory Board established by the Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, and the Additional Chief Secretary of the Home Department were named as parties in the complaint.
