Under Article 22, a person under preventive detention cannot be detained for longer than a certain period unless an Advisory Board reports sufficient cause. That period is:

Under Article 22(4), no law providing for preventive detention can authorise the detention of a person for a longer period than three months, unless an Advisory Board has reported before the end of three months that there is sufficient cause for such detention.

Advisory Board:

• It consists of persons who are, or have been, or are qualified to be appointed as, judges of a High Court.
• It examines whether there is sufficient cause for continuing the detention.
• If the Board finds no sufficient cause, the person must be released.

44th Amendment:

• The 44th Amendment Act, 1978 sought to reduce the period of detention without an Advisory Board's opinion from three months to two months.
• It also sought to provide that the Advisory Board should be constituted in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief Justice of the appropriate High Court.
• However, this provision of the 44th Amendment has not been brought into force, so the original period of three months still applies.

Other safeguards for preventive detention (Article 22(5)):

• The detaining authority must communicate the grounds of detention to the detained person as soon as possible.
• The detained person must be given the earliest opportunity to make a representation against the order.
• The authority may refuse to disclose facts that it considers against the public interest.

Exception:

• Parliament may prescribe circumstances in which a person can be detained for longer than three months without obtaining the opinion of an Advisory Board.
• Parliament may also prescribe the maximum period of detention.

Meaning of preventive detention:

• It means detention of a person without trial and conviction, to prevent him from doing something harmful in the future.
• It is different from punitive detention, which is punishment for an offence after trial.

Laws on preventive detention:

The National Security Act, 1980 and the COFEPOSA, 1974 are examples.

Why not the other options?

• ✗One month, six months and one year are not the period laid down in Article 22(4).