"Law deals with the facts of life. In law as in life, there are no invariable absolutes. Neither life nor law can be reduced to mere but depotic formulae". These observations had fallen from Chinnapa Reddy, J. in Ummu Saleema vs. B. B. Gujaral AIR 1981 SC 1191, while dealing with the ques­tion as to whether there was any reasonable delay in consider­ing the representation of the detenu. It had been observed earlier that the occasional observations made by the Court that each day's delay must be explained were meant to emphasize the expedition required in such a matter, and not that it is a magical formula, the slightest breach of which must result in release the detenu. Thinking on the same wave length, may we say that though the procedural safeguards must be made available to a detenu to the greatest extent, at the same time the inner object and intent behind the framing of such, laws which are sanctioned by the constitution itself cannot be allowed to be totally frustrated by over playing the safeguard too much.

2. These thoughts have occurred to us because in this application challenging the detention of the petitioner under Nati­onal Security Act (for short, the Ac