Q. Consider the following statements:
1. According to the Constitution of India, the Central Government has a duty to protect States from internal disturbances.
2. The Constitution of India exempts the States from providing legal counsel to a person being held for preventive detention.
3. According to the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002, confession of the accused before the police cannot be used as evidence.
How many of the above statements are correct?
Exp) Option b is the correct answer.
Statement 1 is correct. Article 355 of the Indian Constitution specifically states that “It shall be the duty of the Union to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure that the government of every State is carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.”
Statement 2 is correct. According to Article 22 of Constitution of India (Protection against arrest and detention in certain cases):
(1) No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for such arrest nor shall he be denied the right to consult, and to be defended by, a legal practitioner of his choice.
(2) Every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before the nearest magistrate within a period of twenty four hours of such arrest excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the court of the magistrate and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the said period without the authority of a magistrate
(3) Nothing in clauses (1) and (2) shall apply (a) to any person who for the time being is an enemy alien; or (b) to any person who is arrested or detained under any law providing for preventive detention.
Hence, According to Clause (3) Article 22 of the Constitution of India, it is not mandatory for states to provide access to legal counsel to the person held for preventive detention.
Statement 3 is incorrect. Section 32 (1) of the Prevention Of Terrorism Act (POTA) 2002 stated that “Notwithstanding anything in the Code 12 or in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872), but subject to the provisions of this section, a confession made by a person before a police officer not lower in rank than a Superintendent of Police shall be admissible in the trial of such person.”
Source: https://www.mea.gov.in/Images/pdf1/Part18.pdf
https://www.satp.org/satporgtp/publication/faultlines/volume16/Article%202.pdf
- Laxmikant Chapter 7
Subject) Polity/IR
