JAMMU, May 19 -- Sending a strong legal message on preventive detention, the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has held that grant of bail in criminal cases does not wipe out the power of the State to order preventive detention, if the detaining authority is satisfied that a person's activities pose a continuing threat to security, public order or public welfare.
Justice M. A. Chowdhary dismissed two separate habeas corpus petitions and upheld detention orders passed under the J&K Public Safety Act and the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988, observing that criminal prosecution and preventive detention operate in different fields.
In the first matter, Nazir Ahmad Chak of Kulgam had ...