The Bombay High Court has quashed a detention order issued by NCB against Agisilaos Demetriades, brother of Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal’s partner Gabriella Dimitriades, under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (PIT-NDPS Act).
A division bench headed by Justice Revati Mohite-Dere, on Thursday, allowed Demetriades’s plea after his advocates argued that it was imperative that a translated copy of the statement provided to him give him a fair opportunity to properly defend himself.
The HC was hearing a petition filed by Demetriades challenging his detention. His plea read: “Having failed to provide the same, the grounds of detention have not been communicated to the Petitioner and the Petitioner is thus handicapped in making an effective, meaningful and complete representation against his detention at the earliest, thereby infringing and violating the fundamental rights guaranteed to the Petitioner…”
On April 21 this year, Demetriades, a South African national, was detained by the NCB from Goa and was pursuant to a detention order issued on September 21, 2021. He was detained as a part of preventive action initiated by the Mumbai unit of the NCB under the (PIT-NDPS) Act considering he has three cases registered against him for possession of drugs.
PIT-NDPS Act provides preventive detention orders against any person with a view to prevent him from engaging in illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
Demetriades had also sought that he be transferred to a prison in Goa since he is a civil prisoner and be allowed home food.
His petition contends that before he was detained by the NCB, he had filed a petition before the Goa bench of the HC challenging the detention order which was dismissed. He had approached the Supreme Court against the detention order, which too did not grant him any relief.
Following which he was detained by the NCB.
