FILE G · GLOSSARY · Magisterial & law-and-order

Preventive Detention

MEANING

Detaining a person to prevent future harm rather than punish past acts — constitutionally permitted, and tightly conditioned.

Article 22 supplies the safeguards: grounds must be communicated, a representation heard, and an Advisory Board must confirm detention beyond three months. The detaining authority's subjective satisfaction must still be a real one on real material — the ground on which most detentions fall.