Court No. - 90
Case :- HABEAS CORPUS WRIT PETITION No. - 326 of 2021 Petitioner :- Sanjay And 20 Others Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Pradeep Kumar Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Dinesh Pathak,J.
Heard Sri Pradeep Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioners and learned A.G.A. for the State/O.P. nos.1, 2 and 3, who have appeared through Video Conferencing.
Present writ petition has been filed on behalf of the petitioners seeking following reliefs :
“(i) Issue a writ, order of direction in the nature of Habeas Corpus directing the respondents to produce the detenues before this Hon'ble Court.
(ii) Issue a writ, order of direction in the nature of Habeas Corpus commanding the respondents to release detenues with their bags and wages from the illegal detention of the respondent no.4.”
It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioners that with respect to similar facts and circumstances of the case, as mentioned in the present mater, this Court has already passed orders in different writ petitions as has been mentioned in paragraph 9 of the instant writ petition and submits that present writ petition may also be finally disposed of with the terms and condition as passed by this Court in earlier writ petitions. It is submitted that respondent no.4 has employed all the petitioners as labourers at his brick-kiln with certain terms and conditions but at a subsequent stage he had refused to give the wages and other benefits for which he was agreed upon and has illegally detained all the petitioners/labourers in his captivity along with their belongings. Respondent no.4 is exploiting them as bonded labourers. It is further submitted that deponent of present writ petition namely, Rahul, who has been authorized by the present petitioners for filing this writ petition, was also one of the labourer along with them at the brick-kiln of respondent no.4 and anyhow managed to escape from his captivity. In paragraph 8 of the writ petition, it is mentioned that deponent of present petition has already moved a representation dated 10.04.2021 (Annexure-1 to this petition) before the District Magistrate, Baghpat (respondent no.2) to ventilate the grievances of the petitioners as averred in the present writ petition but no heed has been paid to their grievances. In paragraph 9 of the writ petition, petitioners have given reference of three Habeas Corpus Writ petitions, which were said to be decided in similar facts and circumstances i.e. Civil Misc. Habeas Corpus Writ Petition No.204 of 2020 decided on 28.02.2020, Civil Misc. Habeas Corpus Writ Petition No.691 of 2020 decided on 09.12.2020, Civil Misc. Habeas Corpus Writ Petition No.279 of 2021 decided on 26.03.2021. Copies of aforesaid orders passed by this Court have collectively been filed as Annexure-2 to the writ petition. It is submitted on behalf of the petitioners that brick-kiln owners in all the writ petitions are different and they have also illegally detained the labourers, who are petitioners in the aforesaid petitions. Learned counsel for the petitioners has pressed the order dated 09.12.2020 (Annexure-2 to this writ petition) passed in Civil Misc. Habeas Corpus Writ Petition No.691 of 2020 (Pooja and 17 others vs. State of U.P. and 5 others), which is reproduced below :-
“Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and learned A.G.A. for the State.
The present Habeas Corpus Petition has been preferred on behalf of 17 petitioners, who are allegedly in the illegal captivity of respondent nos. 4 to 5.
Learned A.G.A. has already accepted notice on behalf of respondent nos.1 to 3.
The grievance of the petitioners is that the respondent nos. 4 to 5 is illegally detaining the petitioners, and exploiting them as bonded labours without payment of valid wages, who were allegedly engaged as labourers in the brick kiln of the aforesaid respondent and inspite of several complaint/application made on behalf of the petitioners to the District Administration no steps has been taken as yet for release of the petitioners.
Taking note of the submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, there is no useful purpose to keep this petition pending. Therefore, it is provided that the District Magistrate, Shamli and Superintendent of Police, Shamli, shall enquire into the matter and if the contentions of the petitioners are found to be correct, then action should be taken against the respondent nos. 4 to 5, to secure the release of the petitioners from the illegal captivity, expeditiously without unreasonable delay, say within a period of fifteen days from the date of filing of a certified copy of this order in accordance with law. It is further made clear that in case the allegations are found incorrect, District Magistrate/Superintendent of Police is directed to take action against the deponent-Vipin in accordance with law immediately after completion of inquiry.
With the aforesaid observations, this petition is finally disposed of.
Let a copy of this order be given to the learned A.G.A. to ensure the compliance of this order.”
From perusal of Annexure-2 (orders passed by this Court), prima facie, it appears that the facts and circumstances in all the matters are similar to that of facts and circumstances of the present writ petition. Learned A.G.A. has not made any objection to this account and submits that respondent nos.2 and 3 may be directed to enquire into the matter and take appropriate action, accordingly.
Since the prayer made in the present writ petition is similar to other petitions which have earlier been decided by Co-ordinate Benches of this Court (as mentioned above), therefore, this Court finds it appropriate to dispose of the present writ petition in terms of order dated 09.12.2002 passed in Civil Misc. Habeas Corpus Writ Petition No.691 of 2020. This writ petition is disposed of with a direction to respondent nos.2 and 3 to enquire into the matter in the light of contention of the petitioners, and in case, the same is found to be correct, then action should be taken against respondent no.4 to secure release of the present petitioners (detenues) from his illegal captivity, expeditiously without unreasonable delay, preferably within a period of one month from the date of production of a computer generated copy of this order along with the self attested copy of present writ petition, in accordance with law. It is further made clear that in case the allegations made in the writ petition are found incorrect, respondent nos.2 and 3 are directed to take action against deponent Rahul in accordance with law, immediately after completion of the enquiry.
With the aforesaid observations, this writ petition is finally disposed of.
Let a copy of this order be given to the learned A.G.A. to ensure early compliance of this order.
Order Date :- 10.5.2021 Manish Himwan Digitally signed by Justice Dinesh Pathak Date: 2021.05.10 17:08:40 IST Reason: Document Owner Location: High Court of Judicature at Allahabad