The Supreme Court on Monday said mere apprehension of law and order breach cannot become a ground to put a man under the preventive detention law.
The court said there should in fact be apprehensions regarding the concerned person being a threat to "public order" affecting the community at large.
"There can be no doubt that for ‘public order’ to be disturbed, there must, in turn, be public disorder. Mere contravention of law such as indulging in cheating or criminal breach of trust certainly affects ‘law and order’ but before it can be said to affect ‘public order’, it must affect the community or the public at large," a bench presided over by Justice R F Nariman said.
The bench, also comprising Justice Hrishikesh Roy, quashed a detention order issued by the Telangana government against a man who was alleged to have duped people by claiming he was a High Court advocate and convincing them to invest money promising good returns from the stock market.
The state government passed the detention order as the man who faced five cases of cheating and criminal breach of trust obtained anticipatory bail in all cases. It contended that the man was involved in white-collar offences and his free movement would hinder public order.
“There can be no doubt that the harm, danger or alarm or feeling of security among the general public spoken of in Section 2(a) of the Telangana Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act is make-believe and totally absent in the facts of the present case," the bench said.
The court if a person is granted anticipatory bail wrongly then the state can always appeal against the bail order granted or apply for cancellation of bail. But granting of anticipatory bail cannot be a ground for preventive detention.
The court passed its judgement on an appeal filed by Banka Sneha Sheela, wife of the man against the Telangana High Court's order of March 31, 2021, dismissing a writ petition against the detention order.
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(Published 02 August 2021, 17:38 IST)
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