Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has set aside an order directing the custody of a man in a preventive proceeding, holding that an interim bond for good behaviour cannot be used to detain a person before the statutory inquiry is completed.
The bench of Justice Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee ruled that an Executive Magistrate had exceeded the powers under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) by cancelling an interim bond and sending the petitioner to custody during the pendency of an inquiry.
The case arose after Watgunj police initiated preventive proceedings alleging that the man was a habitual offender involved in offences such as kidnapping and extortion, and that action was necessary to maintain public peace. Acting on the police report, the Executive Magistrate asked him to execute a bond of Rs 5,000 with sureties for good behaviour while the inquiry was pending.
Later, after police informed the magistrate that the man had been arrested in another criminal case, the court cancelled the interim bond and ordered that he be taken into custody until completion of the inquiry. The High Court found the action legally unsustainable.
Justice Mukherjee observed that preventive proceedings under the BNSS require a proper inquiry into the truth of allegations before any final order directing security for good behaviour can be passed. The power to demand an interim bond exists only during such an inquiry and cannot be exercised mechanically.
The court further held that detention for breach of bond can arise only when a final bond has been ordered after completion of the inquiry. In this case, no such final order had been passed, and the bond executed by the petitioner was merely interim.
“Mere reference to past cases or police allegations cannot substitute an inquiry involving evaluation of evidence and examination of witnesses,” the court noted, stressing that preventive provisions affecting personal liberty must follow due procedure.