Madras HC revokes Goondas Act citing delay in invoking act on Kallakurichi tragedy accused

The Madras High Court (HC) revoked the orders to detain 18 people who were accused in the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy under the Goondas Act. The court said on January 6 that while the case was registered and arrests were made in June 2024, Goondas Act was invoked against the accused only in August 2024. Citing this delay of two months, the court quashed the orders invoking the Goondas Act.

It may be noted that the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy claimed the lives of over 50 people. More than 100 others were hospitalized.

The Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Cyber law offenders, Drug-offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Forest­-offenders, Sand-offenders, Sexual-offenders, Slum-grabbers and Video Pirates Act, 1982, otherwise known as the Goondas Act is a stringent act that allows the state to detain habitual offenders as a preventive measure, to ensure that their activities do not deter public order. 

The Division bench consisting of Justices SM Subramaniam and M Jothiraman acknowledged that the actions of the 18 persons arrested in the case had deterred public order but revoked orders for preventive detainment by pointing out the delay of two months.

The court also found that some of the accused couldn’t read Tamil and that the state hadn’t furnished translated document copies to the accused. Justice Subramaniam held that by doing so, the accused’s right to file a representation against the passed order was affected. 

The bench said that the investigating agency can continue to deny bail and that the prosecution should initiate applications to cancel the bails that might have been granted so far in connection to this case.

The case is currently being investigated by the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID). It will soon be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as per an order passed by the Madras HC in November 2024.