Abuse of preventive detention law
- April 12, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
No Comments
Abuse of preventive detention law
Subject : Polity
Concept :
- Recently, the Supreme Court (SC) of India observed that preventive detention laws in India are a colonial legacy that confers arbitrary power to the state.
- The Court warned that these laws are extremely powerful and have the potential to provide the state with free discretion.
Preventive Detention
- Preventive detention means detention of a person without trial and conviction by a court. Its purpose is not to punish a person for a past offence but to prevent him from committing an offence in the near future.
- The detention of a person cannot exceed three months unless an advisory board reports sufficient cause for extended detention.
- Protection:
- Article 22 grants protection to persons who are arrested or detained.
- Article 22 has two parts—the first part deals with the cases of ordinary law and the second part deals with the cases of preventive detention law.
Two Types of Detentions:
- Preventive detention is when a person is held in police custody only on the basis of a suspicion that they would conduct a criminal act or cause harm to society.
- The police have the authority to hold anyone they suspect of committing a criminal offence and also to make arrests without a warrant or a magistrate’s authorization in certain cases.
- Punitive detention, which means detention as a punishment for a criminal offence. It occurs after an offence is actually committed, or an attempt has been made towards the commission of that crime.