Supreme Court’s scathing remarks on preventive detention

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has termed the preventive detention of a person on the part of the police on any issue as a serious attack on personal liberty. The court on Friday said that preventive detention is a serious attack on individual liberty and therefore the protections provided in the Constitution and the law authorizing such action are of utmost importance and should be strictly adhered to.

Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, Justice S. A bench of Ravindra Bhat and Justice JB Pardiwala made the remarks while setting aside the order of preventive detention passed by the Tripura government on November 12, 2021. The bench also directed the release with immediate effect of an accused of offenses under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act relating to the Prevention of Illegal Trafficking.

It is very important to keep the eyes open for the officers

The court observed that in the context of the purpose of preventive detention, it becomes very important for the detaining officers as well as the serving officers to be vigilant and keep their eyes open. The Supreme Court said the detention order is dated November 12, 2021 and there is no explanation as to why it took nearly five months for the detaining authority to pass the order of preventive detention.

What was the matter?

In fact, accused Sushant Kumar Banik had moved the apex court challenging the Tripura High Court’s order dismissing his plea against the custody order passed by the state government. After which the Supreme Court made this sharp remark while hearing the matter on Friday.