Contours of Preventive Detention and Personal Liberty in India

A deprivation of personal liberty prior to criminal conviction in modern legal system characteristically occurs as a precautionary measure to ensure the criminal justice is not frustrated or obstructed by those who may become subject to the process of preventive detention. Constitution of India also guarantees preventive detention laws under the VII schedule and rights of preventive detention under Article 22. Preventive detention laws in other countries are used only in war but in India it is also used in peace time. But nowadays preventive detention laws are used according to the whims and fancies of executive authority. Recently also we could see how national security act was stringently used in Jammu and Kashmir. Now it’s time to maintain constitutionalism within the country and the executive power needs to be controlled and judiciary in India should exercise its power in order to look that executive power is properly used. In the area of preventive detention the range of administrative control over an individual’s personal liberty is wide so the doctrine of judicial review should be exercised to check the arbitrary power of executive authority. This article wishes to define the contours of preventive detention laws in this 21st century and to find effective measures to ensure personal liberty.