• National Security Act is a preventive detention law
• Preventive detentions in 2021 saw a rise of over 7% compared to the year before, with over 1.1 lakh people being placed under preventive detention, according to the latest crime statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau.
• Of these, 483 were detentions under the National Security Act, of which almost half were either in custody or still detained as of the end of 2021.

National Security Act (NSA), 1980:

• The NSA is a preventive detention law.
• Preventive Detention involves the detainment (containment) of a person in order to keep him/her from committing future crimes and/or from escaping future prosecution.
• Article 22 grants protection to persons who are arrested or detained.
• Detention is of two types, namely, punitive and preventive.
• Punitive detention is to punish a person for an offence committed by him after trial and conviction in a court.
• Preventive detention, on the other hand, means detention of a person without trial and conviction by a court.
• Article 22 has two parts-the first part deals with the cases of ordinary law and the second part deals with the cases of preventive detention law.
• Article 22 (3) (b) of the Constitution allows for preventive detention and restriction on personal liberty for reasons of state security and public order.
• Further, Article 22(4) states that no law providing for preventive detention shall authorise the detention of a person for a longer period than three months unless:
• An Advisory Board reports sufficient cause for extended detention.
• Such a person is detained in accordance with the provisions of any law made by the Parliament.
• The NSA empowers the Centre or a State government to detain a person to prevent him from acting in any manner prejudicial to national security.
• The government can also detain a person to prevent him from disrupting public order or for maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community.
• The maximum period for which one may be detained is 12 months. But the term can be extended if the government finds fresh evidence.

National Crime Records Bureau:

• The NCRB was established in January 1986 with the aim of establishing a body to compile and keep records of data on crime.
• It functions under the Union Home Ministry.
• Apart from publishing annual reports, its functions include “Collection, coordination and exchange of information on inter-state and international criminals to the respective states”.
• NCRB also acts as a “national warehouse” for the fingerprint records of Indian and foreign criminals, and assists in locating interstate criminals through fingerprint search.

Crime In India Report:

• This is the oldest and the most prestigious publication brought out by NCRB.
• The report contains data received from the 36 states and Union Territories across the country.
• Similar data is furnished for 53 metropolitan cities, or those having a population of more than 10 lakh as per the 2011 census, by respective state-level crime records bureaus.
• The data for the report is collected by State Crime Records Bureaux (SCRBx) from the District Crime Records Bureaux (DCRBx) and sent to NCRB at the end of every year.

UPSC Prelims Model Question

Q. Which of the following fundamental rights grants protection to persons who are arrested or detained?

(a) Article 20

(b) Article 19

(c) Article 22

(d) Article 14

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