Judgment

KRISHNA IYER, J. :- I agree with the reasons, observations and holding of my learned brother in his Judgment on behalf of both of us. A brief supplement of my own, for reasons which will he apparent, may not be out of place and so I append my separate, concurring opinion.

2. The law of liberty is often the battle for principles of procedural protection; but great principles seldom escape working. injustice in particular things. And when an anti-social element gets away with it, society is the victim of injustice. This grim comment is inevitable in the case before us where the petitioner has been detained without trial and seeks to free himself on the score of breach of basic requirements. My learned brother has explained how the violation, on the strength of the rulings of this court, vitiates the detention. Under our legal system, precedents bind and so, here we obey them and direct release of the detenu. Even so, the facts of the case strongly savour of an economic offender intercepted in his subterranean silver operations and betrayed by his collaborator. Nevertheless, the law is equal and hard cases cannot make bad law. That is why the petitioner must succeed. And, maybe