Hyderabad: The Supreme Court pulled up the Telangana government and police for their repeated use of preventive detention on habitual offenders without considering the fundamental rights guaranteed under the constitution, on Thursday, March 21.
The bench of the SC passed the order while hearing the case of a chain-snatching offender under preventive detention, warning officials against the use of the PD Act without “the application of mind.”
“We hope that the State of Telangana takes what has fallen from this Court very seriously and sees to it that the orders of preventive detention are not passed in a routine manner without any application of mind,” the court remarked.
The apex court quashed the detention order and stated that the detenu caused no prejudice to the ‘public order’ to invoke the powers of the PD Act.
The Telangana police has earlier too been criticised by the Supreme Court over its use of the PD Act on habitual or repeat offenders.
While pronouncing its order in a case last year, the court mentioned its 2022 order which highlighted that over the past five years, the SC has nullified more than five detention orders under the Telangana Act of 1986 due to incorrect application of the standard for maintaining public order and reliance on outdated materials while making the detention orders. In the same year, the High Court of Telangana set aside at least ten detention orders under the Telangana Act of 1986.
