1. Senthilbalaji case | Madras HC delivers split verdict on legality of Minister’s arrest
The Madras High Court delivered a split verdict on a habeas corpus petition (HCP) filed by the wife of Minister V. Senthilbalaji who was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on June 14, 2023, in a money laundering case and remains in a private hospital now, under judicial custody.
One of the judges, Justice J. Nisha Banu, ordered to set the Minister at liberty, citing the ED’s failure to follow the legal procedures before arresting him. She also held that the ED would not be entitled to subject Mr. V. Senthilbalaji to custodial interrogation.
On the other hand, Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy, who shared the Division Bench along with her, disagreed and ordered the Minister could continue to be in the private hospital only for 10 more days or till discharge, whichever was earlier, and thereafter admitted in prison hospital, if required.
Following the split verdict, the Supreme Court did not entertain a plea by the ED to decide by itself the question of custody of Mr. Senthilbalaji. The apex court requested the Madras High Court Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala to expeditiously constitute a larger Bench to hear the case.
2. Private home for the mentally ill sealed in Chengalpattu; owner arrested for sexual harassment of inmates
The Chengalpattu district administration sealed an unlicensed private home, Anbagam, in Panankattupakkam village near Thiruporur, after the 70-year-old owner was arrested on charges of sexual harassment and abuse of inmates.
The action was taken following inquiry over a video that circulated on social media, in which a woman inmate had complained of sexual harassment. As many as 55 inmates with mental retardation and illnesses, including 30 women, were lodged at the home.
3. Vengaivayal water tank issue | Pudukottai court orders DNA test again
The Special Court for Exclusive Trial of Cases Registered under the SC / ST Act, Pudukottai, has directed eight persons, who had earlier refused to take the DNA test in the Vengaivayal case, to undergo the test tomorrow (July 5).
The eight persons from Vengaivayal village, where human faeces were mixed in a tank that supplied water to SC families in December last year, failed to turn up for DNA test on April 25 when 11 persons were to be tested in the first batch of suspects, as per the court’s direction. The move was in pursuant of a petition filed by the Crime Branch CID.
4. Madras HC dismisses Agri-Horticultural Society’s plea claiming ownership of ₹500 crore-worth property on Chennai’s Cathedral Road
The Madras High Court dismissed a writ petition filed by the Agri-Horticultural Society claiming ownership over four cawnies (each cawny measures 1.322 acres approximately), 18 grounds and 1,683 square feet of land next to Semmozhi Poonga on Cathedral Road in Chennai. The property is believed to be worth over ₹500 crore.
Justice S.M. Subramaniam refused to quash the Land Administration Commissioner’s June 5, 2023 order setting aside the Chennai Collector’s 2011 proceedings for grant of ‘patta’ to the society.
Arriving at a conclusion that the petitioner society had not established even a semblance of legal right to occupy the land belonging to the government, the judge said, since the government had now resumed the property, it must be protected and used in the interest of the public at large.
