Preventive Detention Can Be Extended Without Advisory Board's Review After Initial Confirmation: Jharkhand High Court

The Jharkhand High Court recently clarified that once the Advisory Board has approved a preventive-detention order and the State Government has issued a confirmatory order, no further approval of the Board is required for subsequent extensions.A Division Bench of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Arun Kumar Rai made these observations while dismissing a writ petition challenging an order of preventive detention made under the Jharkhand Control of Crimes Act, 2002. The petitioner had been detained as an “anti-social element” under Section 12(2) of the Act, and his detention was periodically extended in three-month intervals. He argued that he did not fall within the statutory definition of an “anti-social element” and that the extensions were illegal as they were issued without fresh Advisory Board approval.The High Court examined whether the petitioner met the definition of an “anti-social element” under Section 2(d) of the Jharkhand Control of Crimes Act. Section 2(d)(i) defines such a person as one who habitually commits, attempts to commit, or abets offences under Chapters XVI or XVII of the IPC. Referring to the Supreme Court's decision in Vijay Narayan Singh v. State of Bihar, the Bench reiterated that “habitually” requires repeated, persistent acts showing continuity and not merely isolated incidents. The Court held:“16…Further the expression "habitually" means "repeatedly" or "persistently". It implies a thread of continuity stringing together similar repetitive acts. Repeated, persistent and similar, but not isolated, individual and dissimilar acts are necessary to justify an inference of habit.”Since the petitioner had multiple FIRs of a similar nature spanning several years including attempt to murder, extortion, assault, and Arms Act violations, the Court held that the statutory threshold of habituality was satisfied.The Court held that the Advisory Board is required only at the initial stage of preventive detention. Once the Advisory Board gives its opinion that there is sufficient cause for detention, and the State Government issues a confirmatory order based on that opinion, the law does not require the Board to review the matter again. After this point, the State can extend the detention without seeking fresh approval from the Advisory Board. This is because the role of the Board ends after its first assessment, and the Act does not mandate periodic or repeated reviews for later extensions. The Court held: “45. Hence, on the basis of the discussion made herein above it is considered view of this Court that no approval of the Advisory Board is required for extending the period of detention in the light of the judgment rendered by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Pesala Nookaraju (supra) wherein it has been observed that if once the Advisory Board has opined that there is sufficient cause for detention of the person concerned and, on that basis, a confirmatory order is passed by the State Government to detain a person for the maximum period of twelve months from the date of detention, then review of the detention order is not required by the State Government.”In light of these findings, the High Court upheld all extension orders and dismissed the writ petition.Cause Title: Upendra Yadav @Bhupendra Yadav v. State of Jharkhand & Ors.Case Number: W.P. (Cr.) No. 255 of 2025Appearance: Ms. Sonal Sodhani appeared for the Petitioner. Mr. Sachin Kumar, and Mr. Srikant Swaroop appeared for the State.Click Here To Read/Download Order

Preventive Detention Can Be Extended Without Advisory Board's Review After Initial Confirmation: Jharkhand High Court

Rushil Batra

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