Balancing public order and the right to peaceful protest is a test of democratic policing. Discuss with reference to preventive detention practices.

Article 19(1)(a)–(b) guarantees free speech and peaceable assembly. Article 19(3) allows reasonable restrictions on these rights in the interest of public order. Preventive detention of protesters falls between the two. In October 2026, an MP petitioned the Supreme Court alleging that DYFI activists were held in sealed, compartmentalised vans and beaten [1]. The case shows how keeping order can slide into impunity.

Public order: why preventive detention exists

• Statutory power: Sec. 151 CrPC, carried into BNSS, 2023, allows short detention to prevent cognisable offences in crowded hubs like Connaught Place [1].
• Rights of others: In Amit Sahni (2020), the SC held that public ways cannot be occupied indefinitely and that dissent belongs in designated places [2].
• De-escalation: A brief, same-day detention can calm a clash without anyone being prosecuted.

Protest rights: where practice fails

• Invisible custody: Detainees were allegedly kept away from police stations, at a guarded spot "away from public view" [1]. That means no arrest memo or diary entry, which defeats the D.K. Basu (1997) safeguards [2].
• Anonymity: Several personnel allegedly wore no name badges [1], so filing FIRs against those responsible becomes nearly impossible.
• 24-hour blind spot: Same-day release means the Article 22(2) check by a magistrate never begins [1].
• Force as punishment: NHRC recorded 155 deaths in police custody in 2021-22 (till 28 February) [4]. Non-fatal beatings appear in no national count.
• Chilling effect: Arbitrary round-ups of political youth groups discourage peaceful dissent.

Way forward: democratic policing

• Extend D.K. Basu to vehicles: keep detention logs and install CCTV, as ordered for police stations in Paramvir Singh Saini (2020) [2].
• Pass a torture law based on the Law Commission's 2017 draft Prevention of Torture Bill, and ratify UNCAT [3].
• Set up working Police Complaints Authorities as ordered in Prakash Singh (2006) [2], and enforce the rule on name tags.
• Use designated protest zones, talk to organisers in advance and use only proportionate force.

Preventive detention is a legitimate public-order tool only when it is brief, recorded and humane. Clear safeguards for detention in vehicles, a law against torture and independent oversight would let the police keep order without silencing dissent. That would honour Article 21's promise of dignity and SDG 16's goal of accountable institutions. It is the test democratic policing must pass.