New Delhi, Nov. 3 -- The Supreme Court on Monday said the State must exercise preventive detention powers, given their direct impact on personal liberty, with utmost caution, circumspection and in strict conformity with the requirements of law.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, R Mahadevan, and AK Singh said all public authorities must anyway be guided by the law and that such appreciation of facts and the law assumed greater significance in matters of preventive detention since it directly affects a person's fundamental right to life and liberty.

"The public authority must be guided by a careful appreciation of the facts and the applicable law. This assumes particular significance in matters of preventive detention, where the exercise o...