Rich thieves roam free, poor detained: Supreme Court to Telangana Govt

New Delhi: Observing that a person who has taken crores of rupees as loans from banks is enjoying his life, but a person who stole five saris was held in preventive detention, the Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Telangana state government.

Chief Justice J.S. Khehar, presiding over a Bench including Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul, in an apparent reference to industrialist Vijay Mallya, told counsel for the Telangana state government, “a person who has taken away crores of rupees is enjoying life. But here a person who took 5 saris is in jail for nearly a year.”

The Chief Justice asked how the Telangana government could take a person into preventive detention for stealing saris. The court posted the matter for further hearing on March 8.

The Bench was hearing a petition filed by the wife of the accused Eliah challenging the preventive detention. His lawyer argued there was no witness to prove the offence.

State counsel told the court that Eliah had been detained from March 19, 2016, under a preventive detention law called the AP Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Dacoits, Drug Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic and Land Grabbers Act.

According to the Telangana state government, Eliah was involved in at least three instances of sari theft in six months. His preventive detention was affirmed by a state advisory board, headed by a retired judge of the High Court, the government said.

The state's counsel tried to justify the detention on the ground that the suspect was a habitual offender and was acting in collusion with a group that stole saris from different shops.