• Article 22 protects persons who are arrested or detained. Detention is of two types, namely, punitive and preventive.
      • Punitive Detention: Punitive detention is to punish a person for an offence committed by him after trial and conviction in a court.
      • Preventive Detention: Preventive detention means the detention of a person without trial and conviction by a court. Its purpose is not to punish a person for a past offence but to prevent him from committing an offence shortly.
      • Right to be informed of the grounds of arrest.
      • Right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner.
      • Right to be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours, including the journey time.
      • Right to be released after 24 hours unless the magistrate authorises further detention. 
      • Rights Not Available Cases –  Arrest under the orders of a court, civil arrest, arrest on failure to pay the income tax, and deportation of an alien.
  • Protection to persons who are arrested or detained under a preventive detention law. This protection is available to both citizens as well as aliens.
      • The detention of a person cannot exceed three months unless the advisory board reports sufficient cause for extended detention. The board is to consist of judges of a high court.
      • The grounds of detention should be communicated to the detent However, the facts considered to be against the public interest need not be disclosed.
      • The detenu should be allowed to make representation against the detention order. 
  • Article 22 also authorises the Parliament to prescribe
    • The circumstances and the classes of cases in which a person can be detained for more than three months under a preventive detention law without obtaining the opinion of an advisory board.
    • The maximum period for which a person can be detained in any class of cases under a preventive detention law.
    • The procedure to be followed by an advisory board in an inquiry.
  • Amendments: The 44th Amendment Act of 1978 has reduced the period of detention without obtaining the opinion of an advisory board from three to two months. 

 

Source: The Hindu