Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 16: Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court today dismissed the petition filed by Royal Singh, a notorious criminal, challenging his detention under Public Safety Authority (PSA).
“The petitioner-detenue instead of mending his ways has continuously been indulging in criminal activities and has not shown any respect for law of the land, as such the petitioner-detenue has created a feeling of fear and insecurity in the minds of the public of the area”, High Court said, adding “it is apposite to mention that our Constitution has given the highest priority to the individual liberty. It is the most valuable and cherished right recognized by the Constitution”.
“However, the inherent need to curtail the right to freedom in certain circumstances has been recognized as emerging from the Constitutional scheme itself. The right of society as a whole is, from its very nature, of much greater importance than that of an individual. In case of conflict between the two rights, the individual’s right is subjected by our Constitution to reasonable restrictions in the larger interest of the society”, High Court said, adding “by providing for preventive detention the framers of the Constitution have recognized certain restraints on the right to individual liberty and in certain cases the individual liberty is required to be subordinated to the larger social interest”.
“The main object of the preventive detention is the security of a State, maintenance of public order and of supplies and services essential to the community demand, effective safeguards in the larger interest of sustenance of peaceful democratic way of life. Thus, for achieving a bigger cause, the preventive detention laws provide a mode of depriving an individual of his personal liberty”, Justice Nargal said.
With these observations, High Court dismissed the petition and said, “the impugned detention order, accordingly, sustains and is maintained”.
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