Sat Mar 29 04:58:09 UTC 2025: ## Bombay High Court Quashes Detention Order Due to Language Barrier
**Mumbai, March 29, 2025** – The Bombay High Court has quashed the detention order of Shahabaz Ahmed Mohammad Yusuf from Nashik, citing a violation of his constitutional rights. The court ruled that Yusuf, who only speaks Urdu, was not provided with Urdu translations of crucial witness statements, which were originally in Marathi.
Yusuf was detained on July 30, 2024, under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act, 1981, based on alleged involvement in various crimes between 2018 and 2020. While the detention order itself was translated into Urdu, the in-camera statements of witnesses, vital to the justification of his detention, were not.
A Division Bench of Justices Sarang Kotwal and S.M. Modak, in their March 21 judgment (released publicly on March 28), stated that this failure denied Yusuf the opportunity to effectively challenge his detention, violating Article 22(5) of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees certain rights to those detained.
The court also considered arguments presented by Yusuf’s lawyer, Aisha Z. Ansari, that the detention order was not issued promptly and that the delay indicated a lack of urgency.
The High Court’s decision orders Yusuf’s immediate release unless he is required in any other case. The judgment highlights the importance of ensuring due process and linguistic access for all detainees.
First Piper 