Assault To Dissuade Love Relationship Against Family Wishes Not Against 'Public Order': Bombay High Court Quashes Preventive Detention

Assaulting a boy to dissuade him from continuing a love relationship which is objected by the girl's family is an 'individualistic' act and cannot be considered to be against 'public order' to detain a person under 'preventive detention' laws, held the Bombay High Court earlier this month. Sitting at the Kolhapur circuit seat, a division bench of Justice Ravindra Avachat and Justice Ajit Kadethankar quashed and set aside a preventive detention order passed against one Aditya Mane, a resident of Solapur. The bench noted that Mane was earlier detained for a year from July 2023 to July 2024, considering his antecedents. However, post his release, he helped his friend on September 8, 2025 by assaulting one Yash Landge, who had a love affair with Mane's friend's sister Gayatri. Initially on the relevant day, Gayatri's mother objected to the relationship however, despite that, Yash visited her house after which Mane and Gayatri's brother together along with some other boys, assaulted Yash with an intention to dissuade him to stop the love relationship. "It is apparent from the recitals of the complaint (lodged by Yash), that the act of the Petitioner can not be said to be against 'Public Order'. There is diference between an act against 'Law and Order' and 'Public Order'. The incidence in question is purely of individualistic nature. It has history of the love relations between Gayatri Kamble and the complainant Yash Landge, and the incidence took place solely to discourage the said relationship. This can, by no stretch of imagination be said to be an act against public order," held the judges in the order passed on February 3.Further, the judges noted that the police authorities heavily relied on two 'in-camera' statements which stated that the petitioner Mane assaulted them. However, the bench noted that both the statements were recorded when Mane was in the prison and not out on bail in the case filed against him by Yash and his family. "The in-camera statements were obtained even before he could be physically released on bail pursuant to the order dated September 22, 2025. The authorities had not challenged the petitioner's bail order nor any application for cancellation of bail has been preferred by the police authorities. It is also not the case of the detaining authority or the police authorities that the petitioner, after his release on bail, has committed any activity detrimental to the public order," the judges noted. Therefore, the bench deprecated this practice of the authorities to detain persons without following the due procedure of law. "The impugned order itself is silent on the point as to why the action of detention has been placed into service under such circumstances, while there is no act on the part of the petitioner to trigger the detention procedure. We are of the opinion that the impugned order ought not to have been issued nor the Petitioner ought to have been detained on the basis of a singular incidence post last detention which is in fact an individualistic offence, but not an offence against Public Order," the judges held.With these observations, the bench quashed and set aside the preventive detention order passed against Mane.Appearance:Advocates Sangram Shinde and Harsh Kashyap appeared for the Petitioner. Additional Public Prosecutor PP Deokar represented the State. Case Title: Aditya Shailendra Mane vs State of Maharashtra (Writ Petition 4761 of 2025)Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Bom) 75Click Here To Read/Download Judgment

Assault To Dissuade Love Relationship Against Family Wishes Not Against 'Public Order': Bombay High Court Quashes Preventive Detention

Narsi Benwal

Tags