| The notion of preventive detention is deeply ingrained in India's legal, political, and social landscape. It is premised on the value of precautionary state action to protect the public or national interest, and is adopted at a cost to the value of individual liberty and its sacrosanct protection under law. Preventive detention differs from the punitive detention imposed by a court of law in that it is imposed by the decision of a government official, and furthermore, in that it does not follow from the conviction of an offence, but rather anticipates the commission of a harmful act. There is no authoritative definition of the term 'Preventive Detention' in Indian law. Preventive detention necessarily involves the detention of a person. Detention means that the person detained is not at liberty to go anywhere. |