High Court says detention of Air Force officer is legal

NEW DELHI, February 3: The Delhi High Court today upheld the legality of the detention of Wing Commander Nagesh by the Indian Air Force and dismissed a habeas corpus alleging that the detention was illegal and coercive in nature.

A division bench comprising Justice Devinder Gupta and Justice N.G. Nandi while dismissing the public interest litigation said the officer was detained “under lawful authority. As the person has been detained under lawful authority, there was no reason for the court to interfere in the matter”. The bench, however, observed, “Such detentions should not be harsher than what is required.” A petition filed by Sqn Ldr (rtd) J.S. Puniya and V.J. Dabas alleged that Wng Cmdr Nagesh was put under `close detention’ for giving a representation against the huge disparity of pay between pilots and ground duty officers.

Appearing for IAF, Rakesh Tiku and Rekha Palli pointed out that the detention was fully within the powers provided under the Air Force Act and that summary of evidence hasalready began in the case of `wilful disobedience’ shown by Nagesh. Tiku further said the detention has already been challenged by Nagesh before a single judge bench in the High Court hence the habeas corpus was not maintainable.