Preventive Detention:
- Preventive Detention is the most contentious part of fundamental rights in the Indian constitution.
- The Article 22 (3) of the Indian constitution provides that if a person is arrested or detained under a law providing for preventive detention, then the protection against arrest and detention under Article 22 (1) and 22 (2) shall not be available.
Types of arrests:
- Punitive Detention: Detention as a punishment for the crime committed by an individual. It takes place after the actual commission of an offence or at least after an attempt has been made.
- Preventive Detention: The imprisonment of a person with the aim of preventing them from committing further offences or of maintaining public order.
The grounds for Preventive detention are:
- Security of state.
- Maintenance of public order.
- Maintenance of supplies and essential services and defence.
- Foreign affairs or security of India.
SC’s view in this regard:
- The judgment dealt with the case of a seed manufacturer in Telangana who was taken into preventive detention by the authorities on the allegation that he is selling spurious chilli seeds to poor farmers.
- Detention of a person was a serious matter affecting the liberty of the citizen. Hence, preventive detention cannot be resorted to when sufficient remedies are available under the general laws of the land for any omission or commission under such laws.
- The order of preventive detention, though based on the subjective satisfaction of the detaining authority, is nonetheless a serious matter, affecting the life and liberty of the citizen under Articles 14, 19, 21 and 22 of the Constitution. The power being statutory in nature, its exercise has to be within the limitations of the statute, and must be exercised for the purpose the power is conferred.
- If the power is misused, or abused for collateral purposes, and is based on grounds beyond the statute, takes into consideration extraneous or irrelevant materials, it will stand vitiated as being in colourable exercise of power.
Section 41 of CrPC:
- Provides power to arrest people without warrant
Yogendra Yadav arrest issue:
- Yogendra Yadav, enroute Tiruvannamalai, to meet the farmers’ families who were apparently affected by the land acquisition for the proposed Chennai-Salem greenfield corridor project was arrested.
