23-Dec-2012 Mohamed Imranullah S. Judges begin cleansing, close down frivolous petitions MADURAI : If at all there is one jurisdiction that is sought to be invoked the most for frivolous reasons in the Madras High Court Bench here, it is the jurisdiction to issue a writ of habeas corpus. But since last month, a Division Bench of Justice M. Jaichandren and Justice S. Nagamuthu had begun the process of closing down all such silly cases. Though a litigant could file a habeas corpus petition (HCP) only to seek the release of an individual from the illegal custody of another person, most of the HCPs filed in the court were by parents whose young children had eloped on their own volition following a love affair or by people whose spouses had eloped with someone else or to find out students who had run away from home. The court hall where the HCPs are heard would always be swarmed by men, women and children wailing, yelling and crying. They sometimes go beyond the control of the court staff and the police. Not finding any justification in keeping such cases pending for years together, the Division Bench has been closing them down after recording undertakings given by police to pursue the matters in accordance with law. Nevertheless, amidst the din, there have also been cases where the Bench had come to the rescue of some people really in need of help. One such case was relating to 43-year-old S. Mahalakshmi (43), a mentally challenged person. The spinster’s sister, S. Gandhi, had filed a HCP in the court after the former went missing from her house here on September 24. The petitioner had approached the court after a complaint lodged with the South Gate police station here did not evoke any response. But immediately after the filing of the case, the police produced Ms. Mahalakshmi along with her brother S. Nagasundaram before the two judges. However, the petitioner Ms. Gandhi did not come to court citing illness.After interacting with the woman for a while in open court, the judges came to a conclusion that she was indeed mentally unstable. “For certain questions we asked, Mahalakshmi gave totally irrelevant and inconsistent answers. We are prima facie convinced that Mahalakshmi is mentally ill and she needs treatment,” the judges wrote in their order. They also suggested her brother to get the woman treated at the Institute of Mental Health in Kilpauk, Chennai. But he expressed his inability to do so for want of financial wherewithal. Hence, the court directed the Dean of Government Rajaji Hospital here to provide treatment to the woman free of cost by admitting her as an inpatient, if required. Handing over the custody of the woman to her brother, the judges made clear that her entire medical expenditure, including cost of medicines, should be borne by the State government. In another HCP, filed by the grandson of a 92-year-old man, Marutha Pillai, who was missing since 2003, the court directed the Tiruchi city police to expedite the process of tracing him out. http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/the-good-bad-and-ugly-of-habeas-corpus-jurisdiction/article4230969.ece
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