Building safeguards

Context:

• The Supreme Court’s observation that the preventive detention laws are a colonial legacy and confer arbitrary powers on the state is one more iteration of the perennial threat to personal liberty that such laws pose.

What is preventive detention?

• On the basis of a suspicion- Preventive detention is when a person is held in police custody only on the basis of a suspicion that they would conduct a criminal act or cause harm to society.
• Arrests without a warrant- The police have the ability to make arrests without a warrant or a magistrate’s authorization in certain cases.
• Administrative Detention- ‘Preventive detention’ is also referred to as ‘administrative detention’, since this detention is directed by the executive and the decision-making authority lies exclusively upon the administrative or managerial authority.