No 118 of 1974
Petition under article 32 of the Constitution
R L Kohli for the petitioner
Dilip Sinha and G section Chatterjee for the respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by CHANDRACHUD J
The petitioner was detained by an order dated August 23 1973 passed by the District Magistrate Howrah under the 
The order recites that the petitioner was detained with a view to preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order
The particulars of the ground of detention refer to a solitary incident dated March 18 1973
It is alleged that at about 2 pm on that date the petitioner and his associates being armed with swords Ballams and Lathis attacked a group of Bengalees at Rajnarayan Roy Choudhury Ghat Road Shibpur Howrah causing severe injuries to them
It is further stated that this conduct led to a reign of terror 426 in the locality as a result of which the shops and the doors of the read side houses were closed people of the locality fled away inpanic and the people were generally afraid of coming out of their houses for fear of being assaulted
Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner has raised two points for our consideration in this petition fOr the writ of habeas corpus
The particulars furnished to the petitioner say that the petitioner was detained on the ground you have been acting in a manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order
The argument is that the order is founded on a single incident and therefore the use of language showing that the culpable conduct on the part of the petitioner extended over an appreciably long period of time was wholly inappropriate
Inferentially it is urged the detaining authority had material before it showing that the petitioner was indulging in a criminal course of conduct for a long periOd of time and as such material was not disclosed to the petitioner he bad no opportunity to meet it leading thereby to the contravention of Article 225 of the Constitution
We are not impressed by this submission
It is true that in matters involving the liberty of the subject the detaining authorities ought to exercise the greatest care in the discharge of their functions
But that dOes not justify an unrealistic dissection of detention orders
The counter affidavit filed on behalf of the State Govt
shows that no other material was taken into account by the detaining authority while passing the order of detention
Therefore the use of the expression you have been acting though unfortunate does not support the submission that the order of detention is founded on undisclosed material
The petitioner was expressly apprised that he had been acting in a manner prejudical to the maintenance of public order as evidenced by the particulars furnished to him
The particulars refer only to a single incident
The second ground of attack on the detention order is that when the State Government approved the detention on August 30 1973 it passed an order approving a detention order dated 25 8 73
As the impugned order of detention is dated August 23 1973 it is urged that while approving the detention of the petitioner the State Government had before it some other order of detention
There is no substance in this contention
The order of approval contains but a typographical error
This is clear from the order passed by the State Govt
on November 8 1973 confirming the order of detention after obtaining the opinion of the Advisory Board
The order of confirmation refers to the order of detention dated August 23 1973
It must also be stated that as in the order of confirmation so in the order of approval an express reference is made to the detention order bearing No 1818 C
The order of detention passed against the petitioner on August 23 1973 bears that very number which shows hat the reference to an order dated 25 8 73 in the order of approval is a topographical mistake
In the result we confirm the order of detention and discharge the rule in this petition
PHP Petition dismissed


Summary:
The petitioner wag detained under the 
The ground of detention referred to a solitary incident
The particulars furnished to the petitioner however stated that he was detained on the ground You have been acting in a manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order
in a petition for habeas corpus it was contended that since the language used showed a culpable conduct over a long period of time the detaining authority had before it material showing that the petitioner wag indulging in a criminal course of conduct for a long period and as such material was not disclosed to the petitioner he had no opportunity to meet it resulting thereby in the contravention of article 225 of the Constitution It was also contended that since State Government approved a detention order hearing a date different from the one shown in the order served on the petitioner State Government had before it some other order of detention while approving the petitioner s detention
Confirming the order of detention HELD  In matters involving the liberty of the subject the detaining authorities ought to exercise the greatest care in the discharge of their functions
But that does not justify an unrealistic dissection of detention orders
The counter affidavit filed by the State shows that no other material was taken into account
The use of expression you have been acting though unfortunate does not support the submission that the detention order was founded on undisclosed material 426C E 2The order of approval contains a typographical error which is clear from the fact that the number of detention order is correctly given and in the order confirming the detention order after consultation with the Advisory Board the correct date of the detention order is mentioned
426F H