NEW DELHI, Jan. 10 -- The Supreme Court recently quashed a preventive detention order under the Telangana 'Goonda Act', ruling that merely declaring a detenu a "habitual drug offender" is not sufficient to justify preventive detention unless it is shown how the detenu's actions specifically threatened public order. Setting aside the Telangana High Court's decision that had upheld the District Magistrate's order, a bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Atul S. Chandurkar observed that mere registration of three offences would not, by itself, have any bearing on the maintenance of public order unless there was material to show that the narcotic drugs allegedly dealt with by the detenu were in fact dangerous to public health under the Act of 1986. The court found that such material was missing from the detention order.
The appellant had been granted bail in NDPS cases, following which the state invoked the Telangana Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act, 1986, to prevent her release, arguing that she was a habitual offender and likely to indulge in similar crimes if released. Rejecting this contention, the court held that the invocation of the preventive detention law was a colourable exercise of power aimed at nullifying the benefit of bail. It ruled that preventive detention cannot be based on mere apprehension of future conduct and must demonstrate how the alleged acts prejudiced the maintenance of public order, noting the clear distinction between "law and order" and "public order". Finding the detention order to be incomplete and lacking recorded subjective satisfaction, the court allowed the appeal and directed the appellant's release from detention.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.