Criminal Appeal No 106 of 1987
From the Judgment and Order dated 99
1985 of the Allahabad High Court in HCWP No 16272 of 1984
Yogeshwar Prasad D Bhandari and Vishal Jeet for the Appel lant
RK Garg Mohan Pandey and RB Misra for the Respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by RANGANATH MISRA J
This appeal by special leave is directed against the order of the Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court by which it has quashed an order of detention of the respondent 428 made under section 32 of the here inafter referred to as the Act 
The High Court relied upon a decision of a Full Bench of that Court in Ashok Dixit vs State and others disposed of on 181985 being Habeas Corpus Petition No 11161 of 1984 for its conclusion that the detention of the respondent was bad in law
The majority opinion of the Full Bench as far as relevant said A solitary assault on one individual which may well be equated with ordinary murder can hardly be said to disturb public peace or place public order in jeopardy so as to bring the case within the purview of the Act
It can only raise a law and order  problem and no more
Assaulting an individual in a bus or train on account of enmity may affect only certain individuals but if the assault is made indiscriminately in the bus or train and passengers are harassed indiscriminately the same would be likely to endanger public order as this kind of incident is bound to have such impact that it will disturb the even tempo of life of the community
The act or incident which may be attributed to the detenu may be reprehensible and yet if it concerns only specific individuals and it has no impact on the general members of the community and has no potentiality of disturbing the even tempo of life of the people it cannot be held to be an activity prejudicial to public order
 The Full Bench in its turn referred to several decisions of this Court in its attempt to bring out a distinction between the concepts of Law and order and public order and one of such decisions of this Court is the case of Pushkar Mukherjee vs State of West Bengal  This Court said therein The difference between the concepts of public order and law and order is similar to the distinction between public and private crimes in the realm of jurisprudence
In considering the material elements of crime the historic tests which each community applies are intrin sic wrongfulness or the social expediency which are the two most important factors which have lead to the designation of certain con duct as criminal
Dr Alien has distinguished public and private crimes in the sense that some offences primarily injure specific per sons and only secondarily the public interest while others directly injure the public inter est and affect individuals only remotely
See Dr Allen s Legal 429 Duties pp249 There is a broad distinction along these lines the differences naturally arise in the application of any such test
 It is claimed that these observations of this Court were taken as the guideline by the Full Bench to ascertain wheth er the allegations brought the case within the purview of public order
Learned counsel for the appellant has strongly canvassed that the test laid down by Dr Allen was not applicable to judge the validity of a detention order and the High Court has gone wrong in quashing the detention of the respondent
It has not been disputed at the Bar that public order and law and order are two distinct concepts
There is abun dance of authority of this Court drawing the distinction between the two
In the case of Superintendent Central Prisons Fatehgarh vs Ram Manohar Lohia  Subba Rao J as he then was spoke for the Court thus The expression public order has a very wide connotation
Public Order is the basic need in any organised society
It implies the orderly state of society any community in which citizens can peacefully pursue their normal activities of life
In the words of an eminent Judge of the Supreme Court of America the essential rights are subject to the elementary need for order without which the guarantee of those rights would be a mockery  
It public order is syn onymous with public peace safety and tran quillity
 In Ram Manohar Lohia vs State of Bihar  Hidayatullah J as he then was speaking for the majority view observed One has to imagine three concentric circles
The law and order represents the largest circle within which the next circle representing public order and the smallest circle represents security of State
It is then easy to say that an act may affect law and order but not public order just as an act may affect public order but not public order just as an act may affect public order but not the security of the State
 430 In Sushanta Goswami  Ors  case this Court observed The contravention of law always affects public order but before it can be said to affect public order it must affect the commu nity or the public at large
A mere disturb ance of law and order leading to disorder is not necessarily sufficient for action under the Act but a disturbance which will affect public order can alone justify the detention under that Act
 A Constitution Bench was again called upon to deal with this problem
In the case of Madhu Limay vs Sub Divisional Magis trate Monghyr Hidayatullah CJ speaking for the Court observed In a judgment the expression in the inter est of public order  in the constitution is capable of taking within itself not only those acts which disturb the security of the State or act within order puglique as de scribed but also certain acts which disturb public tranquillity or are prejudice of the peace
It is not necessary to give the expres sion a narrow meaning because as has been observed the expression in the interest of public order is very wide
 In Kanu Biswas vs State of West Bengal  this Court stated The question whether a man has only committed a breach of law and order or has acted in a manner likely to cause a disturb ance of the public order is a question of degree and the extent of the reach of the act upon the society
Public order is what the French call is something more than ordinary maintenance of law and order
The test to be adopted in determining whether an act affects law and order or public order as laid down in the above case Arun Ghosh vs State of WestBen gal is Does it lead to disturbances of the current of life of the community so as to amount to a disturbance of public order or does it affect merely an individual leaving the tranquillity of society undisturbed In Babul Mitra vs State of West Bengal this court observed 431 The distinction between law and order and public order have been pointed out suc cinctly in Arun Ghosh vs State of West Bengal supra
According to that decision the true distinction between the areas of law and order and public order is that one of degree and the extent of the reach of the act in question upon society
The Court pointed out that the act by itself is not determinative of its own gravity
In its quality it may not differ but in its potentiality it may be very different
 A three Judge Bench examined the same point in Kuso Shah vs State of Bihar  Referring to the facts the Court observed These acts may raise problems of law and order but we find it impossible to see their impact on public order
The two concepts have well defined contours
It being wellestab lished that stray and unorganised crimes of theft and assaults are not matters of public order since they do not tend to effect the even flow of public life
Infractions of law are bound in some measure to lead to disorder but every infraction of law does not neces sarily result in public disorder
As observed in Pushkar Mukherjee vs State of West Bengal supra the line of demarcation must be drawn between serious and aggravated forms of disor der which directly affect the community or injure the public interest and the relatively minor breaches of peace of purely local sig nificance which primarily injure specific individuals and only in a secondary sense public interest
In Dr Ram Manohar Lohia vs State of Bihar supra Hidayatullah J has expressed this concept picturesquely by saying that one has to imagine three concentric circles law and order represents the largest Circle within which is the next circle repre senting public order and the smallest circle represents the security of the state
Law and order comprehends disorders of less gravity than those affecting public order just as public order comprehends disorders of less gravity than those affecting the security of state
 In Ram Ranjan Chatterlee vs State of West Bengal  dealing with the same question this Court stated It may be remembered that qualitatively the acts which affect law and order are not dif ferent from the acts which 432 affect public order
Indeed a state of peace or orderly tranquillity which prevails as a result of the observance or enforcement of internal laws and regulations by the Govern ment is a feature common to the concepts of law and order and public order
The distinc tion between the areas of law and order and public order as pointed out by this Court in Arun Ghosh vs State of West Bengal supra is one of degree and extent of the reach of the Act in question on society
It is the potenti ality of the Act to disturb the even tempo of the life of the community which makes it prejudicial to the maintenance of the public order
If the contravention in its effect is confined only to a few individuals directly involved as distinguished from a wide spectrum of public it would raise a problem of law and order only
These concentric concepts of law and order and public order may have a common epicentre but it is the length magnitude and intensity of the terror wave unleashed by a particular exception of disorder that helps distinguished it as an act affecting public order from that concerning law and order
 In Ashok Kumar vs Delhi Administration this Court re examined the question and stated The true distinction between the areas of public order and law and order lies not in the nature or quality of the act but in the degree and extent of its reach upon society
The distinction between the two concepts of law and order and public order is a fine one but this does not mean that there can be no over lapping
Acts similar in nature but committed in different contexts and circum stances might cause different reactions
In one case it might affect specific individuals only and therefore touch the problem of law and order while in another it might affect public order
The act by itself therefore is not determinative of its own gravity
It is the potentiality of the act to disturb the even tempo of the life of the community which makes it prejudicial to the maintenance of the public order
 These are sufficient to draw the conclusion that concep tually there is difference between law and order and public order but what in a given situation may be a matter covered by law and order may really turn out to be one of public order
We may now refer to two cases of 433 this Court for that purpose
In Arun Ghosh s case supra Chief Justice Hidayatullah stated thus Take the case of assault on girls
A guest at a hotel may kiss or make advances to half a dozen chamber maids
He may annoy them and also the management but he does not cause disturbance of public order
He may even have a fracas with the friends of one of the girls but even then it would be a case of breach of law and order only
Take another case of a man who molests women in lonely places
As a result of his activities girls going to col leges and schools are in constant danger and fear
Women going for their ordinary business are afraid of being waylaid and assaulted
The activity of this man in its essential quality is not different from the act of the other man
But in its potentiality and in its effect upon the public tranquillity there is a vast difference
The act of the man who molests the girls in lonely places causes a disturbance in the even tempo of living which is the first requirement of public order
He disturbs the society and community
His act makes all the women apprehensive of their owner and he can be said to be causing disturbance of public order and not merely committing individual action which may be taken note by the criminal prosecution agencies
 Equally useful would be reference to two other cases Ma thew J in SK Kedar vs State of West Bengal approved the ratio of the decision referred to above and indicated  The question whether a person has only com mitted a breach of law and order or has acted in a manner likely to cause a disturbance of the public order is one of degree and the extent of the reach of the act upon the socie ty
An act by itself is not determinative of its own gravity
In its quality it may not differ from other but in its potentiality it may be very different
Similar acts in differ ent contexts affect differently law and order on the one hand and public order on the other
It is always a question of degree of the harm and its effect upon the community
Public order is the even tempo of the life of the community taking the country as a whole or even as specified localities
It is the degree of disturbance and its effect upon the life of the community in a locality which determines whether the disturbance amounts only to a breach of law and order
 434 In Nagendra Nath Mondal vs State of West Bengal  the Court observed as follows The target of arson was an educational institution and particularly the registers and other papers maintained by it
The object obviously was vandalism to disrupt its work ing by burning its records and to create a scare so that neither the teaching staff nor the pupils would dare attend it for prosecu tion of studies
The acts in question no doubt would be acts similarly to those com mitted by a person who resorts to arson but in the circumstances were acts different in potentiality and therefore amounted to af fecting public order
 In the final analysis therefore one has to turn to the facts on each case to ascertain whether the matter relates to the larger circle or the smaller circle
An act which may not at all be objected to in certain situations is capable of totally disturbing the public tranquillity
When communal tension is high an indiscreet act of no significance is likely to disturb or dislocate the even tempo of the life of the community
An order of detention made in such a situa tion has to take note of the potentiality of the act object ed to
No hard and fast rule can really be evolved to deal with problems of human society
Every possible situation cannot be brought under water tight classifications and a set of tests to deal with them cannot be laid down
As and when an order of detention is questioned it is for the Court to apply these well known tests to find out whether the impugned activities upon which the order of detention is grounded go under the classification of public order or belong to the category of law and order
The criticism of learned council for the appellant against the ratio in Pushkar Mukherjee s case is perhaps not warranted
We have pointed out above that the ratio of that decision has been approved in several later cases
The reference to Dr Allen s classification was obviously in tended to bring into bold relief the basic distinction
The guideline indicated in that judgment in another part falls in line with the general principles adopted by this Court in several authorities
We do not find that the Full Bench of the Allahabad High Court adopted any wrong basis to draw the difference between the two concepts
In our opinion it is unnecessary to examine the facts of this case to find out whether the grounds furnished in support of the order of 435 detention related to public order or not
The respondent suffered detention for a major part of the period covered by the order and was released when the High Court quashed it
The detention being one of 1984 in normal course would have lapsed more than eighteen months back
The appeal fails and is dismissed
NPV Appeal dis missed


Summary:
A Division Bench of the High Court quashed the order of detention of the respondent made under Section 32 of the as bad in law following the earlier Full Bench decision in the case of Ashok Dixit vs State and others that a solitary assault on one individual which may well be equated with ordinary murder can hardly be said to disturb public peace of place public order in jeop ardy so as to bring the case within the purview of the Act that it can only raise a law and order  problem and no more and that the act or incident which may be attributed to the detenu may be reprehensible and yet if it concerns only specific individuals and has no impact on the general members of the community and has no potentiality of disturb ing the even tempo of life of the people it cannot be held to be an activity prejudicial to public order
In appeal by the State it was contended that the High Court was wrong in quashing the detention order
Dismissing the appeal this Court HELD Conceptually there is difference between law and order and public order but what in a given situation may be a matter covered by law and order may really turn out to be one of public order
Facts of each case have to be looked into to ascertain whether a matter relates to the larger circle or the smaller circle
An act which may not at all be objected to in certain situations is capable of totally disturbing the public tranquility
When communal tension is high an indiscreet act of no significance is likely to disturb or dislocate the even tempo of the life of the community
An order of detention made in such a situation has to take note of the potentiality of the act objected to
No hard and fast rule can really be evolved to deal with problems of human society
Every 427 possible situation cannot be brought under water tight classifications and a set of tests to deal with them cannot be laid down
As and when an order of detention is ques tioned it is for the court to apply these wellknown tests to find out whether the impugned activities upon which the order of detention is grounded go under the classification of public order or belong to the category of law and order
432H 434D F In the instant case it is unnecessary to examine the facts to find out whether the grounds furnished in support of the order of detention related to public order or not
The respondent suffered detention for a major part of the period covered by the order and was released when the High Court quashed it
The detention being one of 1984 in normal course would have lapsed more than eighteen months hack
434H 435A B Pushkar Mukherjee and Ors
vs State of West Bengal   Superintendent Central Prison Fategarh vs Ram Manohar Lohia   Dr Ram Manohar Lohia vs State of Bihar and Ors   In re Sushanta Goswami  Ors   Madhu Limaye vs Sub Divisional Magistrate Monghyr and others   Kanu Biswas vs State of WestBengal   Arun Ghosh vs State of West Bengal  Babul Mitra alias Anil Mitra vs State of West Bengal  Kuso Sah vs State of Bihar and Ors   Ram Ranjan Chatterlee vs State of West Bengal   Ashok Kumar vs Delhi Administration and others  SK Kedar vs State of West Bengal  Nagendra Nath Mondal vs State of West Bengal   referred to