Judgment

GAJENDRAGADKAR, J.: The short question which this petition for Habeas Corpus raises for our decision is whether the order of detention passed against, and served on, the petitioner Rameshwar Shaw while he was in jail custody is justified by S. 3 (1) of the Preventive Detention Act, 1950 (No. 4 of 1950) (hereinafter called the Act ). The answer to this question would naturally depend upon a fair and reasonable construction of the relevant clause of the said section.

2. The District Magistrate, Burdwan, passed an Order on the February 9, 1963, whereby he directed that the petitioner should be detained. The Order recites that the District Magistrate was satisfied that it was necessary to detain the petitioner with a view to prevent him from acting in a manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order. This order was served on the petitioner on February 15, 1963, in Burdwan Jail where he had been kept as a result of a remand order passed by a Court of competent jurisdiction which had taken cognizance of a criminal complaint against him. As required by S. 7 (1) of the Act, the grounds on which the petitioner s detention had been ordered by the detaining authority were commu