The high court said that the detention order therefore has ‘far-reaching consequences’, and authorities need to follow the procedure while invoking it ‘in a very strict manner’, calling the detention order ‘uncalled for and a misuse of the law’. (File Photo)OBSERVING THAT the preventive detention laws cannot be used as a ‘convenient short cut’, the Bombay High Court set aside an order passed against a man, arrested with alleged international narcotic links. The court said that since the man, Faisal Javed Shaikh, was already in custody in a Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) Act case when the detention order was passed against him last year, the detaining authority had not dealt with whether there was a real likelihood of him being granted bail in the drugs case, necessitating preventive detention.ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW VIDEO“The preventive detention laws, cannot be used as a convenient shortcut, by the Detaining Authorities, to curtail the liberty of an individual, however serious or heinous the crime. Detention orders passed, without taking into account relevant and pertinent provisions of the law or passed in disregard thereof cannot and ought not to be sustained. The power and authority of preventive detention ought to be and must be exercised in exceptional cases, with a great deal of care, caution and circumspection and strictly as envisaged by the statutes under the preventive detention laws and nothing more,” Justice A S Gadkari and Justice Ranjitsinha R Bhosale, said in a recent order, which was made available on February 16.Shaikh, who was moved from Arthur Road prison to Puzhal Central prison in Chennai, will be returned to a city jail, and will remain in custody in a previous criminal case filed against him.The Act allows forfeiture of the property belonging to the person detained. The high court said that the detention order therefore has ‘far-reaching consequences’, and authorities need to follow the procedure while invoking it ‘in a very strict manner’, calling the detention order ‘uncalled for and a misuse of the law’.The detention order under the Prevention of Illicit Trafficking of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PITNDPS) Act, 1988, was passed against Shaikh on March 26, 2025. It was issued by the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, PITNDPS unit, as the detaining authority.Also Read | Narcotics worth Rs 13.83 crore seized from unclaimed bag at Bandra terminusThe Narcotics Control Bureau had said that Shaikh is a key figure in the illicit narcotics trade, and the detention is necessary ‘to disrupt his influence and operational network in Mumbai’. Shaikh was named in an FIR by the NCB in 2023, and while out on bail, allegedly was involved in another case filed by the local Dongri police in 2024, under the NDPS Act, where grant of bail in repeat offences is stringent.“The Detaining Authority has not considered the fact that the petitioner when on bail in a NDPS matter committing a similar act, would make his chances of again getting bail extremely remote and bleak. In our opinion, given the facts of the present case, there was no immediate and or imminent possibility of the petitioner being released on bail. In these circumstances, the preventive detention laws ought not to have been invoked,” saidStory continues below this adShaikh, represented by counsel Ayaz Khan along with lawyers Munira Palanpurwala and Sumaiya Khan, had submitted that detention order does not mention the aspect of the ‘real possibility of being released on bail’, necessitating preventive detention, as specified by Supreme Court in previous judgments on preventive detention laws. The court said that if the Detaining Authority is aware that the person is in jail/custody, then the detaining authority ought to acknowledge the same, adding that there was no discussion on this.The court ordered him to be released from jail under the preventive detention law, but he remains in custody in the NCB case. © The Indian Express Pvt Ltd