Author Affiliation: Department of Political Science, Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi.
Abstract: State, ever since, its emergence, has been concerned with the maintenance of law and order and protecting people from external aggression and internal threats, thereby, ensuring safety and security to its inhabitants. The authority to maintain law and order empowers the state to use coercive power. It also emanates from various laws that are enacted from time to time. More often than not, coercive laws are self-contradictory because on the one hand they guarantee rights to people and on the other hand, they take away the right of a person or persons. Therefore, it is not wrong to say that modern states are repository of contradictions and India is no exception. There are several undemocratic provisions in the Indian Constitution; preventive detention is one of them. It seeks to detain a person to prevent him/her from indulging in any activity which is likely to pose a threat to the security of the State. In Britain and America this provision was used during World War II while, in India it can be used even in peacetime. This provision has been extensively used against the political dissidents during the post-colonial period. Justice Mahajan of the Supreme Court of India has held that ‘preventive detention laws are repugnant to democratic constitution and they cannot be found to exist in any of the democratic countries of the world’. The question that one can ask at this juncture is that why did the Government of ‘independent’ India retain preventive detention laws? And further, framed new ones. This research contribution examines the circumstances which compelled the Government to frame ‘preventive detention’ laws, and its use during national emergency and peace time.
Keywords: detention laws, preventive detention, India.
How to Cite:
MPA: Mishra, Jaya. “Preventive Detention: A Necessity”. Journal of Innovation for Inclusive Development 2.2 (2017): 68-71. APA: Mishra, J. (2017). Preventive Detention: A Necessity. Journal of Innovation for Inclusive Development, 2(2), 68-71. Chicago: Mishra, Jaya. “Preventive Detention: A Necessity”. Journal of Innovation for Inclusive Development 2, no. 2, (2017):68-71. Harvard: Mishra, Jaya. 2017. Preventive Detention: A Necessity. Journal of Innovation for Inclusive Development, 2(2), pp. 68-71. Vancouver: Mishra J. Preventive Detention: A Necessity. Journal of Innovation for Inclusive Development. 2017; 2(2):68-71.
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