Supreme Court orders release of law student from preventive detention under National Security Act
The student was detained after he allegedly clashed with a professor at his university in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul last year.
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the immediate release of a 24-year-old law student, who had been in preventive detention in Bhopal’s Central Jail for nearly a year under the National Security Act.
The student was detained after a disturbance at a university campus in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul which reportedly occurred after he allegedly clashed with a professor on June 14, 2024, Live Law reported.
The first information report filed in the case included charges pertaining to attempt to murder.
The student surrendered on June 16 and was placed under judicial custody. When he was in jail, the authorities issued a preventive detention order under the National Security Act which kept getting extended every three months, the legal news outlet reported.
The National Security Act allows the Centre or state government to order the detention of a person “with a view to preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the defence of India, the relations with foreign powers, or the security of India”.
It may also order detention to prevent them from acting in any manner prejudicial “to the security of the State”, the “maintenance of public order” or the “maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community”. The police and district magistrates have the power to issue detention orders, subject to approval by the state government within 12 days.
Rights bodies in India have criticised the National Security Act for vaguely worded charges, procedures that subvert the due processes of law, provisions that require courts to draw “adverse inferences” against the accused, lack of mechanisms to prevent arbitrary or discriminatory detention, and sweeping immunities for government officials.
During the hearing, a bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Vinod Chandran found the reasons for his detention insufficient to meet legal requirements, calling his confinement “wholly untenable”.
The Supreme Court found invoking the National Security Act unnecessary saying that there was no proper reason to keep him in preventive detention while he was already being held under regular legal charges, Live Law reported.
“At the most, these are all issues of law and order,” the court verbally observed. “‘Public order’ is something bigger.”
Earlier, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had rejected a petition from the student’s father and supported the detention, the legal news outlet reported.
