Telangana High Court upholds detention of man under PD Act for supplying fake insecticides

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The Telangana High Court dismissed a writ petition filed by a woman challenging detention of her husband Muddangula Aditya who was detained by the Warangal police under the Telangana Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act-1986.

While the police invoked the provisions of the PD Act against Aditya accusing him of involving in four crimes of supplying fake insecticides to farmers, his wife Anuradha contended in her plea that none of the four cases registered against him satisfied requirement of section 2 (a) of the PD Act. Her counsel argued the offences Aditya was accused of raised a question of law and order at the most. But the crimes did not affect the public order, an essential ingredient for detention under the Special Act.

The bench of Justices Moushumi Bhattacharya and Renuka Yara, dismissing the petition, observed that there was no reason to disagree with the detention order of Aditya. Farmers constitute a significant section of the country’s population and the nexus between sale of spurious/misbranded insecticides or seeds drive the agriculturists to penury, the bench said.

Activities like supplying spurious seeds/insecticides would adversely impact agricultural production. This must be viewed from the angle of its wider social implications, the bench noted.

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