In Brief
A woman challenged her husband's preventive detention order under the Telangana Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act, 1986, issued for selling spurious chilli seeds. The Court held that invoking preventive detention merely because inadequate crop yield harmed farmers—when ordinary criminal remedies exist under the Indian Penal Code and Seeds Act—constitutes gross abuse of statutory power. The Court emphasized that preventive detention cannot substitute for ordinary law and should not be used as a mere deterrent. The detention order was set aside, and the detenu ordered released unless wanted in other cases.
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