Apprehension of crime cannot justify preventive detention: Madras HC to TN govt

CHENNAI: Stating that the general public is afraid of going to the police station, the Madras High Court directed the State not to invoke preventive detention without establishing the prima facie breach of public order.

Since the police department does not regularly surveil habitual offenders and resorts to invoking preventive detention when a critical situation arises, a division of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice V Sivagnanam holding the portfolio of hearing habeas corpus petition (HCP) issued general directions to the State in invoking preventive detention.

The bench observed that the state police are unnecessarily invoking preventive detention merely out of apprehension; it should not be done without establishing prima facie for breach of public order.

The State Public Prosecutor (PP) Hasan Mohammed Jinnah submitted that preventive detentions were invoked to maintain law and order. The PP reasoned that in some cases, the accused in a murder case obtains bail and then gets involved in another crime; in such cases, habitual offenders should be put behind bars to protect public order.

Justice SM Subramaniam intervened and questioned the PP if such detention fails the test of breaching public order, can the State compensate the detainee.

The PP submitted that a letter was addressed to the Director General of Police (DGP) stating that preventive detention should not be invoked when there is no breach of public order.

“As a Constitutional Court, we have the duty to ensure the fundamental rights and liberty to everyone, but merely on apprehension invoking the preventive detention against any person will infringe his fundamental rights, affect his livelihood and stigmatise him as a criminal,” observed the bench. Without invoking unnecessary preventive detention, the police should monitor habitual offenders and issue curfew on them, the bench suggested. The bench also asked how many preventive detentions were invoked in sand smuggling cases since it is a huge menace in the state.

They also observed that the general public is scared of going to the police station and suggested reforming the department and the prison. Day after day, corruption in the State machinery increases, even in the police department and judiciary as well. No one can get certificates from the Tahsildar office without giving a bribe, the bench commented.

Recently, the bench had pulled up the State for casually invoking preventive detention in a financial fraud case. It had quashed the preventive detention of YouTuber Savukku Shankar and wrote that the speeches criticising the government’s policies and actions or exposing illegal actions in the administration cannot be termed a threat to public order.