It ordered their immediate release, holding that authorities showed complete non-application of mind by processing and approving the detentions within a day.
Preventive detention was conceived as an extraordinary measure but has been rendered ordinary through “reckless invocation,” as if it were available in the ordinary course, the Madhya Pradesh high court said while quashing the detention of two brothers under the stringent National Security Act (NSA).
It added that checking the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems would have revealed their actual criminal record. The detention proposal from the Jabalpur police superintendent and the collector’s order were routed through four officials and cleared the same day. The order came months after the Jabalpur collector ordered the detention of Rajendra Thakur and Rajesh Thakur on January 6 for three months, citing a threat to public order. Their detention was later extended under the NSA, which provides for imprisonment for up to 12 months without trial.
“Preventive detention, conceived as an extraordinary measure by the framers of our Constitution, has been rendered ordinary with its reckless invocation over the years as if it were available for use even in the ordinary course of proceedings,” the court’s Jabalpur bench said in the September 11 order uploaded on October 5. “This leads to a conclusion that correct facts were not placed before the competent authority,” the court said.
