HEM LALL BHANDARI vs STATE OF SIKKIM AND OTHERS

The Supreme Court held that Section 8(1) of the Preventive Detention Act mandates that grounds of detention must be communicated to the detenu as soon as possible, and ordinarily within 5 days. The Court emphasized that any extension beyond this period must be justified with recorded reasons, failing which the detention order is liable to be quashed. In this case, the delay in communicating the grounds exceeded 10 days without satisfactory explanation, leading to the conclusion that the detention order was invalid and thus quashed.