Preventive Detention
Preventive Detention: What Is It?
- The Indian Constitution’s Article 22 offers protection to anyone who have been imprisoned or arrested.
Detentions Come in Two Forms:
- When a person is held in police custody solely on the grounds of a suspicion that they would commit a crime or harm society, this is known as preventive detention.
- The police have the right to detain anyone they suspect of committing a crime as well as, under some circumstances, to conduct arrests without a warrant or a magistrate’s consent.
- Detention as a result of a criminal offence is known as punitive detention. It happens after a crime has been committed or after an attempt has been made to commit the crime.
What are the Data from the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) Key Highlights?
- The largest number of Detention: As of the end of 2021, there were a total of over 24,500 persons who had been placed under preventative detention, the most since the NCRB began keeping track of this information in 2017.
- Federal and state territories: In terms of States, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Gujarat had the most preventative detentions in 2021, whereas Jammu & Kashmir had the most of these detentions in Union Territories (UTs).
Laws Relative to Prevention:
- Act on National Security: According to the NCRB data, fewer persons were detained in accordance with the National Security Act (NSA) in 2021 than in 2020.
- NSA preventive detentions reached a peak of 741 in 2020. In 2021, this number fell to 483.
- The Goonda Act, 1988 Public Safety Act, Preventing Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PSA)
- Prohibition of Insider Trading under the Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substance Act (NDPS), 1985 (PIT)
- Act of 1980 to Prevent Black Marketing and Maintain Supplies of Essential Goods (PBMSECA)
- Additionally, there is a category called “Other Detention Acts,” under which the majority of detentions were recorded. Since 2017, this category has continuously housed the most individuals subject to preventative custody.
Issues:
- Utilization of other Acts: Making preventive detentions is also permitted by a number of legislation, including the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act.
- Manipulation by Public Figures: District magistrates and the police frequently place people in jail as a preventive measure to maintain law and order during escalating community conflicts or conflicts between any two communities, even though these conflicts don’t always result in widespread disturbance.
The Supreme Court’s Position:
- While overturning the preventive detention order given for a chain thief in Telangana in July 2022, a Vacation Bench of the Supreme Court said that these powers granted to the State were “unique” and that as they affect an individual’s liberty, they should be utilised carefully.
- The court had also stated that it was not appropriate to employ these powers to address routine law and order issues.
