Writ Of Rights and Its Types: Habeas Corpus

A writ essentially means a fundamental order. In generic legal lexicon, it is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction. The three most common types of writs being prerogative writs, warrants, and subpoenas. Plainly put, anything issued under a recognised legal authority, is a writ.

In the Indian legal system, the jurisdiction to issue ‘prerogative writs’ is conferred to the Supreme Court and to the High Courts of all Indian States. The writs partly owe a constitutional backing, making their enforcement and usage more secure and reliable. The Constitution of India provides for five kinds of prerogative writs,

Habeas Corpus

Habeas Corpus is latin for “that you have the body.”  It acts as a shield against detaining authorities infringing upon the fundamental right to liberty, ordering the detainer to produce the detained person in the issuing court, along with the cause of detention. The court, after examining the basis of said detention, can set the detained free if it finds no plausible legal justification for the specific detention. It also stands ground under the preventive detention header and can be issued against authorities of states or individuals or organisations.

When can the writ of Habeas Corpus be issued?

• Under the circumstances of detention of a person not being produced before the magistrate within 24 hours.
• Under the circumstances of the detention being mollified or carried out to harm the person
• Under the circumstances of an arrest under an unconstitutional law
• Under the circumstance of an arrest without any violation of law

The ordinary rule of filing a petition is that a person whose rights have been infringed must file it; habeas corpus being an obvious exception to that. The reason for its special seclusion from the normality being the fact that it is physically impossible for a person being detained or imprisoned to file a petition; hence anybody on behalf of the detainee can file a habeas corpus petition.

It stands to be extensively useful in the domain of immigration, deportation, military detentions, court proceedings before military commissions, and convictions in military courts. Another important aspect of habeas corpus being that it is used to determine preliminary matters in criminal cases, some specifics being the failure to provide for a speedy trial or hearing, the legality of extradition to a foreign country and an adequate basis for detention.

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