In Brief
An employee was arrested on charges of cheating 450 job aspirants of Rs 85 lakhs and released on bail with conditions to report to police. Nearly seven months later, the State passed a preventive detention order under the Telangana Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act 1986. The Supreme Court held that mere apprehension of breach of law and order is insufficient for preventive detention; there must be a demonstrable threat to public order affecting the community at large. Since the accused had fulfilled bail conditions without violation and no live nexus existed between the crime and detention, the ordinary criminal process sufficed. The detention order, based on non-application of mind to material facts, was quashed.
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