Srinagar, Aug 25: The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has recently held that it is the impact of an offence, rather than the number of such acts committed, that determines whether a person’s preventive detention is justified.
Justice MA Chowdhary made the observation while dismissing a habeas corpus petition filed by the wife of Rajouri resident Mohd Shakoor, who had been placed under preventive detention for his alleged repeated involvement in drug-related offences.
According to a Bar & Bench report, the Court refused to set aside the detention order after noting that there were no procedural lapses in its issuance. It further held that drug trafficking offences of the kind Shakoor was accused of posed a “serious threat to public health.”
“It is not the number of acts that are to be determined for detention of an individual but it is impact of the act which is material and determinative. In the instant case, the act of detenue (Shakoor) relates to drug trafficking, which has posed serious threat, apart from health and welfare of the people, to youth, most particularly unemployed youth, to indulge in such acts, ramifications thereof would be irreversible and unimaginable,” the August 19 ruling stated.
The petition was filed under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988 (NDPS Act), challenging Shakoor’s detention order passed by the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, in November 2024. Multiple NDPS cases have been registered against him since 2012.
His counsel argued that Shakoor was already on bail in all five cases and that the detention order was mechanical, violative of Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India, which provides safeguards against arbitrary preventive detention.
The Court, however, found no merit in this argument, stressing that preventive detention is not punitive but precautionary, meant to prevent offenders from causing irreversible harm to society.
Citing the gravity of drug trafficking, the bench further observed that such offences threaten public health, youth, and national security, and emphasized that the involvement of terrorist groups and international syndicates in the narcotics trade gives rise to narco-terrorism, a direct challenge to sovereignty.
“The drug problem is a serious threat to public health, economy and growth of humanity. Our global community is facing serious consequences of drug abuse and it undermines the socio-economic and political stability and sustainable development. Besides, it also distorts the health and fabric of the society and it is considered to be the originator for petty offences as well as heinous crimes like smuggling of arms & ammunition and money laundering. The involvement of various terrorist groups and syndicates in drug trafficking leads to threat to the national security and sovereignty of States by the way of Narco-terrorism,” the court said, as reported by Bar & Bench.
With these observations, the High Court dismissed the plea and upheld the preventive detention order.
Advocate Idrees Saleem Dar represented the petitioner, while Senior Additional Advocate General (AAG) Monika Kohli appeared for the Jammu and Kashmir government.
