Preventive Detention Based On Capricious Exercise Of Powers Must Be Stopped: Supreme Court

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Thursday said the essential concept of preventive detention is that the detention of a person is not to punish him for something he has done but to prevent him from doing it.

Observing that preventive detention is a draconian measure and any such move based on a capricious or routine exercise of powers must be nipped in the bud, the Supreme Court has set aside a Telangana High Court order rejecting a detenu's appeal.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Thursday said the essential concept of preventive detention is that the detention of a person is not to punish him for something he has done but to prevent him from doing it.

"Inability on the part of the state's police machinery to tackle the law-and-order situation should not be an excuse to invoke the jurisdiction of preventive detention," the bench also comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said.