In Brief
A husband was detained under Telangana's Preventive Detention Act for chain snatching offences (gold chain robberies). His wife challenged the detention via habeas corpus, arguing that such crimes constitute a law-and-order problem, not a public-order problem requiring preventive detention. The High Court dismissed her petition. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, holding that preventive detention is an exceptional power applicable only to genuine threats to public order. Chain snatching, even habitual and fear-inducing, falls within law-and-order and can be addressed through ordinary criminal procedure. The detention order was set aside, and the detenu was to be released.
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